Study site description: Boteti, Botswana

Table of Contents

1. Responsible IP partner
2. General Information
3. Bio-physical description
4. Land and resource use
   1. Settlement and agriculture
   2. Grazing
   3. Cultivation
   4. Infrastructure
   5. Wildlife conservation areas
   6. Water resource use
   7. Forest resource use
   8. Land tenure and administration
   9. Weaknesses of existing land use practices
   10. Major degradation issues due to the use of natural resources
5. Socio-economic description
6. Relevant end-users / stakeholder groups
7. Past and on-going projects
8. Cited references

Water resource use

As already indicated above, some Molapo farming (recessional or floodplain arable agriculture) is practised along the river floodplains after the floods have receded. The moisture content is better and the soils are more fertile than on the surrounding ridges and plains. There is presently no irrigation agriculture in the Boteti area, nor are the prospects for the future promising.

Livestock production benefits from water available from the river (seasonally) and shallow wells. The introduction of boreholes reduced the dependence on the river and nearby wells on the part of the rich farmers. As a result, large cattle owners dominate the remoter, good quality rangelands while the more numerous smaller herds are kept around the congested river, resulting in range degradation. A disadvantage is the poor groundwater prospects and high salinity.