FOCUS
Natural resources andenergy
Special
November 2014
46
Generating alternative sources of renewable energy.
Preventing soil andwater degradation andpollution.
Adapting farming systems to climate change.
This key strategicarea strives toachieveabalancebetweenprojects
in irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, agro-forestry and aquaculture,
topromoteproducer involvement inpoor rural communities through
participatory action research, and to take research projects further
toward the practical application of results with technology transfer
activities. The baseline of completed projects and stakeholder re-
quirements indicate thedirection andpriorities for future research.
Emphasiswill thereforebeplacedon:
Determining the water footprint of selected food, forage, fibre
and fuel crops.
Measurement and modelling of deciduous fruit tree orchard
water use.
Revision of the 1996 water quality guidelines for agricultural
water use.
Rehabilitationof grasslandsand livestockwater useproductivity
after eradicationof invasive trees.
Water use of agro-forestry systems for food, forage or fuel
production.
Evaluation of the water use and nutritional productivity of food
crops in thediet of the rural poor.
Contributionof inland freshwater fisheries to rural livelihoods.
Wide-scalemodellingof irrigationwater use andwater availabil-
itywith earthobservation/satellite imagery.
Up-scaling of rainwater harvesting and conservation (RWH & C)
to croplands and rangelands for foodproduction and renewable
fuel generation.
Productive use of water in agriculture
– a key strategic area for theWRC
Modelling of irrigation farming profitability with curtailment of
authorisedwater use.
Assessment of the impact of erosion on sedimentation of water
resources.
Modelling cropwater use anddetermining the impact of climate
changeon selected catchments.
Seamless near-forecasting of rainfall for effective agricultural
watermanagement.
Non-point source (NPS) pollution from field to catchment scale
and salinisationmanagement withprecision farming.
Publication of research reports
All completed research reports are published on an annual basis.
The availability of research reports is publicised in the magazine
Water Wheel
as well as the WRC’s
Knowledge Review
. These pub-
lications aswell as research reports can be ordered from theWater
Research Commission at the address
or down-
loaded from
.
The most recently published research report is on
Water use effi-
ciency of selected irrigated crops determinedwith satellite imagery
by Caren Jarmain from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as lead
author (WRC Report number TT 602/14, July 2014), which can be
accessedunder the knowledgehubon thewebsite.
This report contains detailed information on water use as well as
water useefficiencyofmaizeproduction in irrigationareas along the
Orange River at Douglas: GWK participated in the project as a com-
mercial partner.
SAGrain/
Sasol Nitrophoto competition
