Page 25 - Vol.39-No.9 issue

IRRIGATION

form water distribution, which is especially soil clogging and damage of lines due to drought-related stress in vines while help-
needed in vineyards. To further improve pests and other factors. Research studies ing to optimise yield.
the e!ectiveness of drip irrigation, vine and pilot trials show that subsurface drip Another advantage of this technique is
growers use soil sensors and automated irrigation can improve physiological activity that it can be used in tandem with oth-
systems to improve their water manage- while maintaining grape quality. er irrigation approaches, including drip,
ment strategies further. Studies have also shown the e!ective- to improve crop water productivity and
Research e!orts from universities such ness of deficit irrigation during growth grape quality. Using regulated deficit irri-
as Washington State University have es- stages in drought-prone areas to stabilise gation, maintaining soil moisture thresh-
tablished subsurface drip irrigation prac- production; a variant of deficit irrigation, old, and continuous monitoring to modify
tices that can overcome the challenges of known as partial rootzone irrigation, is approaches to save yield and vines have
prolonged use of drip irrigation, such as being studied for its ability not to cause resulted in success stories.
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SOLAR POWERED WATER PUMPS SUPPORT

PASTORALISTS’ LIVELIHOODS IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CRISIS

It is early morning, and Michael Lokuru fingers. “We have not harvested anything
Kuri is taking his cattle out to graze as he this season.”
does every day when the sun rises, to beat So it’s all the more important for his
the heat. It’s a peaceful enough scene as he family to keep their livestock healthy. For
marshals his livestock out of the compound. three-quarters of the community here,
It hasn’t always been like that. “I have “their livelihood is livestock, and they ac-
been raided twice,” Lokuru, as he is known, tually depend on livestock,” says Quinto
says. He explains that amid tense relations Asaye Alex, Inspector for Veterinary Ser-
with neighbouring communities in Kapoeta vices Eastern Equatoria, as he prepares to
South County, Eastern Equatoria State in vaccinate Lokuru’s goats.
this southeastern part of South Sudan,
“They want to take our livestock by force
and also try to kill us. All my cattle were
taken so that I was only le" with five.” He
closes his fist to denote the number five
and recounts how he had to struggle again
to get more animals.
But at least some of the challenges he
faces with his cattle have been eased. Ear-
lier, the prolonged dry season had forced
him to take his animals far from his vil-
lage of Nakoringomo for grazing and thus Implemented by FAO on behalf of the An even more crucial purpose for the
heightened the risk of conflict over water AfDB and the Government of South Sudan, vet’s visits is training Lokuru himself to ad-
resources. This was before the Food and the support is part of an initiative to boost minister the jabs to his animals and those
Agriculture Organization of the United Na- the resilience and adaptive capacity of of his fellow villagers. The FAO-supported
tions (FAO), with funding from the African communities in the face of climate change. training for community workers like Lokuru,
Development Bank (AfDB), provided sup- Meshack Malo, FAO Representative in who was nominated by his own village,
port to excavate a 30 000 m3 reservoir South Sudan, says the country’s concerning includes administering vaccines, identi-
and installed a solar-powered water pump level of food insecurity is a major chal- fying diseases, dividing the sick animals
in his community. “Now we don’t need to lenge. “In this country, we still have over from the healthy ones and treating them,
take our animals to other locations for wa- 70 percent of people who, at one time or Quinto explains.
ter because we have enough water for the another, are not sure where they're going Lokuru is one of 30 community work-
animals,” the 34-year-old says. to get their next meal,” states Malo. ers who have been trained in the whole
Powered by two solar panels that gen- Added to that, there is the continuing of Kapoeta South. “I consider myself as
erate the electricity to pump water sus- impact of fighting in large areas of the a leader because I have the knowledge.
tainably from the reservoir, this installation country and climate change. “And so the FAO has trained me in so many things. I
means that he and his community no longer country finds itself in this double challenge give treatment and vaccinations, some-
have to laboriously collect water from a and sometimes even triple challenge with thing that other people cannot do. I still
catchment basin. “The solar water pump floods or dry conditions,” Malo concludes. have the strength. I will train the youths
has simplified everything for us.” and ensure they become like myself in the
On Lokuru’s farm, the ravages of climate community.”
“Our livestock now drink clean water change are clearly visible in the cracked soil
pumped by the solar pump to the troughs,” and withered crops on his fields. “There With the help of the initiative run by FAO
Lokuru says as he fills one from a hosepipe have been changes in the weather,” he says. and its partners, Lokuru’s e!orts are helping
for the cattle to drink. Having clean wa- “This year has been the worst; all crops his community keep their livelihoods going
ter available means that the animals stay were destroyed by the sun,” he describes, and training young people to do the same
healthier, a fundamental concern for people crumbling the desiccated crop through his amid the challenges faced by their country.
who rely on livestock for their living.
Vol. 39 No. 9 23
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