Irrigation accounts for the largest water demand within the Orange-Senqu River basin. The agricultural sector is very important for the economy within the basin, especially within the Lower Orange WMA. The basin has many areas suitable for commercial irrigation; many of these are in water scarce parts of the basin. To manage this problem, irrigation schemes are established to provide water to farms in the drier, agriculturally intense parts of the basin.
This section is divided into two with Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia grouped together and South Africa dealt with on its own because of the larger amount of information available for South Africa.
Distirbution of major irrigation schemes in the Orange-Senqu River basin.
Source:Hatfield 2009
( click to enlarge )
To see a map of the distribution of irrigated agriculture across the Orange-Senqu River basin, please refer to the Agriculture section of the Water Demand Chapter.
