Technical Note on Performance of Macro-Catchment Rainwater Harvesting for Maize Production: Preliminary Results
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Date
1999
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
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Abstract
Macro-catchment raiilwater harvesting (RWH)
describes those techniques witll much larger
Catchment Areas (CAs) (generally > > Iha)
which generally do not fall witllin a farmer's
land. The CAs and Cropped basins (CBs) will
often be very different in character and tlle
transfer d.istance may be in tile range of a few
hundred metres to several kilometres'- Although
runotf efficiency is relatively lower
tllan thy. 'microcatchment systems, runoff volumes
will still be large because of tlle size of
tlle CA. If the transfer distance is very large, it
is also possible for tlle CA to receive rain and
produce runoff for a CB which has received no
rain. Macro-catchment RWH systems include:
hillside systems such as tlle "ma jaluba" system
of tlle Lake Zone of Tanzania (Meertens et aZ"
1999) where, water is ~hannelled intp bunded
rice padis by small channekconstructed across
,tlle slope on grazing land; stream-bed systems
which spread water tlowing in ephemeral
streams using permeable stone dams or earth
b~nds (van Dijk and Ahmed, 1993); and
stt-eam diversion systems which chamlel water
, trbm ephemeral streams into water-spreading
s&uctures such a~ tlle "Caag" system of Somalik
(Reij, 1991) The mairi problems with these :
s~stems are, in controlling tlle sometimes very
high volumes of runoff and preventing erosion.
I
The risk of too' much water washing away
tiblds is a major problem in Western Pare
I -
Lowlands (WPLL).
Description
Tanzania Journal of Agricultural Sciences 1999, Vol. 2(2): 239 - 242
Keywords
Macro-Catchment Rainwater, Maize Production, Raiilwater harvesting, RWH