L'article décrit la participation des chercheurs français, détachés à l'Institut international de la gestion des ressources en eau (IWMI) par le ministère français de l'Agriculture, aux travaux concernant les bassins hydrographiques de référence Olifants et Limpopo, entrepris dans le cadre du Programme pour relever les défis « Eau et alimentation ». Les scientifiques français mis à la disposition de l'IWMI ne sont pas seulement investis dans les dimensions économiques, géographiques et agronomiques de ces programmes de recherche et de formation, ils contribuent également à la coordination des différents programmes dans les bassins hydrographiques et à l'amélioration de leur coordination. / This paper describes the contribution of the French researchers seconded to International Water Management Institute (IWMI) by the French Ministry of Agriculture in the Olifants and Limpopo benchmark basins of the Challenge Program on Water and Food. The French researchers made available to IWMI are not only involved in the economic, geographic and agronomic aspects of these projects, but also participate in coordinating and developing synergy between different projects in the basins.GESTION DE L'EAU;RECHERCHE;FORMATION PROFESSIONNELLE;AFRIQUE DU SUD;RESEARCH;TRAINING;WATER MANAGEMENT;SOUTHERN AFRICA

D. Rollin

H. Lévite

H. Sally

S. Morardet

English

Research Papers in Economics

 
Research and training in the Olifants and Limpopo basins of  
Southern Africa
Dominique Rollin, Sylvie Morardet, Hervé Lévite and Hilmy Sally
This paper describes the contribution of the French researchers seconded to International Water Management Institute 
(IWMI) by the French Ministry of Agriculture in the Olifants and Limpopo benchmark basins of the Challenge Program 
on Water and Food. The French researchers made available to IWMI are not only involved in the economic, geographic 
and agronomic aspects of these projects, but also participate in coordinating and developing synergy between different 
projects in the basins.
In November 2000, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) opened its regional office for Africa in Pre-
toria pursuant to an agreement with the South African government. Ever since, the French Ministry of Agriculture has 
seconded one, and then two, researchers, with scientific supervision from the Centre national du machinisme agricole, 
du génie rural, des eaux et forêts (CEMAGREF), to agricultural and environmental engineering institute, to assist in the 
research conducted by IWMI in Africa. This short paper describes the participation of the French researchers in this work 
and their involvement in implementing research and training activities in the Olifants and Limpopo benchmark basins of 
the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) and in developing research partnerships.
Among the many reasons for French researchers to work in partnerships in southern Africa are interest in research activi-
ties for development, as well as the importance of social and environmental issues in relation to economic development 
and redressing the inequalities inherited from the apartheid system in South Africa.
Olifants and Limpopo benchmark basins
The concept of a benchmark basin was developed by IWMI and CPWF in order to carry out a significant number of 
research and training activities in these basins, with a long-term commitment and the idea of comparing the basins 
with one another. The research topics addressed in these benchmark basins include integrated management of water 
resources to enhance their productivity and sustainability, integration of social and environmental human-based factors 
in evaluating water productivity, and joint management of surface and ground water.
The 54,000 square kilometer (km2) Olifants River basin in South Africa was selected by IWMI as one of its three bench-
mark basins.1 Studying this basin is of particular interest for the following reasons:
It is a priority concern of the South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (Van Vuuren et al. 2003) to es-
tablish new catchment management agencies for the post-apartheid period following the enactment of the national 
Water Act of 1998. This law seeks to balance considerations of efficiency, equity and sustainability, and so redress 
past inequities and ensure a better distribution of the benefits stemming from equitable access to water.2
The opportunity to observe and support, or even influence, major institutional changes such as the establishment 
of these new catchment agencies, water allocation reform and the general decentralization of water management in 
the context of political and social change.
The water resources of this basin are insufficient to reliably satisfy all uses, and the issue of water quality is par-
ticularly important because of the substantial presence of mining activities that generate pollution and use a lot of 
water.
A full range of water uses, and thus of water-related conflicts, can be found in the basin: agriculture (both subsis-
tence and commercial), forestry, domestic (shaped in part by the very high population density and great poverty in 
the former homelands), mining, power production (half of South African electric power is produced in the Olifants 
basin), industry, environment (with a portion of Kruger Park and many private and public natural reserves) and 
1 Along with the Ruhuna basin in Sri Lanka and the Rechna Doab (an Indus River sub-basin) in Pakistan; cf. www.iwmi.cgiar.org/benchmark/in-
dex.htm
2 South Africa is one of the few countries of Africa suffering from a physical shortage of water, as most of the others face instead a lack of infra-
structure.
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n	 france	and	the	cgiar:	delivering	scientific	results	for	agricultural	development  
SCIENTIFIC PARTNERSHIPS
river fishing. In addition, transboundary obligations 
include the necessity of maintaining a flow reserved 
for Mozambique.
The basin is regularly subject to devastating floods, 
which often entail dramatic damage in neighboring 
Mozambique.
CPWF selected the Limpopo basin (413,000 km2)3 as 
one of its nine benchmark basins. Since the Olifants is 
one of the main tributaries of the Limpopo, the research 
conducted in the Olifants basin is particularly relevant to 
the Limpopo. For most of the CPWF projects, South Afri-
can sites have thus been selected in the Olifants basin, 
while Zimbabwean sites have been chosen in the Mzing-
wane basin and Mozambican sites in the lower Limpopo 
floodplain.
From laboratory to basin, a range of scales
Research on water management requires that efforts be carried out at different scales, from basic soil-water-root inter-
action to an entire basin spreading over tens of thousands of square kilometers. This includes the range of scales in 
between, i.e., individual plots, farms, infrastructure and institutions. As the range of scales is broad, so too is the range 
of disciplines that comes into play.
Databases, geographic information systems and models can be used to move from “laboratories” at the local level to a 
much broader level, through analyses of the laboratories’ specificity and the degree that it represents the entire basin.
Quaternary catchments (measuring a few hundred square kilometers) were selected in the Olifants basin for implement-
ing research and training activities.
Mafefe and Sekororo, two laboratories for the study of integrated water resources management
Mafefe (quaternary catchment no. B71D, 263 km2) and Sekororo (quaternary catchment no. B72A, 534 km2) are the two qua-
ternary catchments in northern Olifants selected for implementing IWMI research and training projects. They can be considered 
representative with respect to a number of major water issues in the Olifants River basin.
In Mafefe, the site includes a major tributary of the Olifants River, the Mohlapitsi, which makes a significant contribution to 
the river’s flow during the dry season and provides high quality water as a result of the filtration and buffering role played by its 
wetlands. Agricultural development in these wetlands, which is important for the subsistence of the local population, raises the 
concern that the Mohlapitsi may become unable to perform this role.
Sekororo, a quaternary catchment where a limited supply of water has to meet the demands of commercial farms, subsistence 
farms in a former homeland and natural reserve, provides the opportunity to study the water distribution between uses and users 
and assess the potential for multiple-use water-supply systems.
At both sites, building a partnership based on the participation of local actors (communities, farmers’ representatives, munici-
palities, traditional authorities and government representatives) is fundamental. Several students from a variety of disciplines 
are involved.
3 Cf. www.waterandfood.org/index.php?id=64
n
Map 1: Olifants and Limpopo benchmark basins 
Involvement in CPWF projects
After the first CPWF call for proposals, 25 projects were selected for financing. Of these, six are being implemented in 
the Limpopo basin, and five of them have sites in the Olifants basin.4
The French researchers seconded to IWMI are not only involved in the economic, geographic and agronomic aspects of 
these projects, but also participate in coordinating and developing synergy between different projects in the basin.
Complementarities and synergies also occur with the Echel-Eau funding5 and the research activities conducted by other 
French teams working in the Limpopo and other basins: CIRAD, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and 
Groupe d’échange et de recherche technologiques (GRET). The role of intermediary played by French researchers, in dis-
seminating French concepts, tools and methods, is thus essential, as is the role of supervising students from the French 
system interested in water management, who find favorable study conditions (international experience, cultural openness 
and research-development links) in the laboratories of these benchmark basins (Lefebvre et al. 2005; Darradi 2005; Sar-
ron 2005). Participants include Institut national agronomique Paris-Grignon; Ecole nationale supérieure agronomique de 
Rennes; Ecole nationale d’ingénieurs des travaux agricoles de Bordeaux; Ecole nationale du génie rural des eaux et des 
forêts; University of Montpellier I; Centre national d’études agronomiques des régions chaudes; and Ecole du génie de 
l’eau et de l’environnement de Strasbourg. 
Involvement of the geographer-agronomist and the economist in CPWF projects
The geographer-agronomist participates in coordinating and implementing the various research and training projects in the 
Olifants River basin, specifically the CPWF projects. He plays an important role in building partnerships, certain field operations 
on water productivity and managing the upscaling from laboratory to basin. He makes important contributions to supervising 
students and especially to developing synergies between different projects and different disciplines. The systemic approaches 
proposed by the French scientific community are followed regarding cropping patterns, farming and agrarian systems.
The economist is responsible for defining and implementing the theoretical framework of trade-off analysis between agricultural 
production and environmental protection in the wetlands project (Masiyandima et al. 2005). She also participates in economic 
analyses conducted in the various projects and the study on financing multiple-use water-supply systems in rural areas. She 
supervises the work of many students.
Both participate in the scientific and executive committees of the various CPWF projects.
Partnership development
IWMI research capacities in South Africa are insufficient to allow the Institute to carry out by itself the many projects 
in which it is involved. Moreover, one of the CPWF objectives is to conduct research in partnership with other CGIAR 
Centers, national research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, government agencies and representatives of civil 
society. The researchers made available to IWMI thus play a major role in establishing relations and building partnerships 
with researchers and French research teams, most of whom are connected to the Gestion de l’eau, acteurs et usages 
(G-EAU) joint research unit (unité mixte de recherche, or UMR) combining CEMAGREF, IRD, CIRAD, ENGREF), the 
universities of southern Africa, and the other actors mentioned above.
4 These are:
(i)  Crop water technology and market: Increased food security and income in the Limpopo basin through integrated crop, water and soil fertility 
options and public-private partnerships.
(ii)  Wetlands: Wetlands-based livelihoods in the Limpopo basin. Balancing social welfare and environmental security.
(iii) Models for implementing multiple-use systems for enhanced land and water productivity, rural livelihoods and gender equity.
(iv) Waternet: The challenge of integrated water resource management for improved rural livelihoods: Managing risk, mitigating drought and 
improving water productivity in the water-scarce Limpopo basin (Love et al., 2005).
(v)  Transboundary  water  governance  for  agricultural  and  economic  growth  and  improved  livelihoods  in  the  Limpopo  and  Volta  basins:   
Towards African indigenous models of governance. 
5 French contribution to CPWF	 france	and	the	cgiar:	delivering	scientific	results	for	agricultural	development  
SCIENTIFIC PARTNERSHIPS
Conclusion
The presence of researchers from the French Ministry of Agriculture in IWMI is a way to disseminate French approaches 
and tools in international research (e.g., the Olympe software for modeling of farming systems, multiple agent ap-
proaches, trade-off analysis for sustainable management of wetlands areas, etc.) and to compare them with other tools, 
methods and concepts used in IWMI. The “laboratories” are excellent training grounds and raise awareness of multidisci-
plinary research among young French researchers. In particular, they provide exposure to real problems confronting rural 
development and poverty reduction, a comparative view of multiple uses and users of water, and the opportunity to take 
into account not only technical and economic elements but also social and political factors, through action research.
1 Dominique Rollin, agronomist and PhD in geography, is a senior engineer of the French Ministry of Agriculture. He has worked for the Centre 
de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) in Africa and Madagascar for more than 15 years and 
has coordinated the Olifants River project since 2004.
2 Sylvie Morardet, PhD in economy and a senior engineer of the French Ministry of Agriculture, is a specialist in irrigation and water-manage-
ment issues.
3 Hervé Lévite, an engineer of the French Ministry of Agriculture, is a specialist on water resource development projects.
4 Hilmy Sally, a civil engineer and PhD in water mechanics and management, has more than 25 years of experience in water resource manage-
ment and irrigation in Africa and Asia. Since 2005, he has been in charge of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) southern 
Africa office.
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Assessing trade-offs in wetland utilization in the Limpopo River basin: A research framework.

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Olifants water management area, water resources situation assessment, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.

Research and training in the Olifants and Limpopo basins of southern Africa

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Research and training in the Olifants and Limpopo basins of southern Africa

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