Study site description: Boteti, Botswana

Table of Contents

1. Responsible IP partner
2. General Information
3. Bio-physical description
4. Land and resource use
5. Socio-economic description
   1. Population density and structure
   2. Level of education
   3. Sources of income and key livelihood supports
   4. Impacts of land degradation on the livelihood of people
   5. Major challenges of existing land resource management
   6. Major drivers of main land degradation processes
   7. Institutional and legislative setting
6. Relevant end-users / stakeholder groups
7. Past and on-going projects
8. Cited references

Sources of income and key livelihood supports

Like in most other rural regions of Botswana, there are limited formal employment opportunities in Boteti. For example, in Mopipi only about 17% of the working age population was in formal employment in 2001, compared to 22% whose source of income was agriculture and the environment. According to the 2001 census, the majority of families in Boteti depend on the combination of old-age pension, rent, employment and maintenance as the principal income source. For example, in Mopipi and Rakops the proportions of families dependent on this combination were 72% and 83%, respectively. Considering the limited formal employment opportunities just noted, it could be concluded that the majority of the population in Boteti is now dependent on social welfare benefits. Cash and in-kind remittances are also a significant source of income and livelihood in the area, benefiting between 15 and 32% of the households in Mopipi, Rakops and Mokoboxane villages in 2001 (Republic of Botswana, 2004). Firewood is presently the principal source of domestic energy in Boteti. In 2001, firewood was the main fuel for cooking for about 67% of the families in Boteti.

Subsistence agropastoralism is a traditional and still valued livelihood activity. Livestock graze on communal pastures while arable agriculture is rain-fed. It is believed that the carrying capacity for livestock (especially cattle) has been exceeded. As noted above molapo (or flood recession) farming along the Boteti used to be the most preferred type of mixed cropping agriculture in the area. The Boteti River has had no floods since the 1980s.