Service Contract No 2007 / 147-446 Strategic ... - Swaziland

Figure 12:The portions of the Inkomati, Mbuluzi and Maputo Basins in SwazilandSource: JIBS (2001)5.2.1.4 Water use in the sugar sectorThe total amount of water available for irrigated agriculture depends upon the rainfall, riverflows and the country’s storage capacity – with the actual river flow in turn dependent uponcatchment management. Water is a critical resource that provides for the financialsustainability of over 50,000 ha of irrigated sugar cane.The run-of-river water in Swaziland’s rivers is fully allocated, predominantly to Title DeedLand (TDL) and to leasehold Swazi Nation Land (SNL) areas. Water supply to SNL isrelatively inadequate for irrigation purposes. In order to rectify this imbalance, two majorirrigation schemes designed to primarily serve SNL have been initiated. Swaziland and SouthAfrica have combined to finance the Komati Downstream Development Project (KDDP),create the Maguga Dam on the Komati River and share the captured water. The dam willprovide water for approximately 5,000 ha of cane within Swaziland. In the centre ofSwaziland, a new off-stream dam has been constructed to supply water to up to 11,500 ha ofsmall-scale irrigation developments. The Lubovane Dam, upstream of Big Bend in thesouthern Lowveld, which will store summer floodwater diverted from the Usuthu River andultimately irrigate the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP).RDMU (Strategic Environmental Assessment of the National Adaptation Strategy) - Page 40