Abstract
1 Telephone: (267)-3552-539 Fax: (267)-3185-097 Email: [email protected] Abstract: The agriculture economic sector of Botswana is limited mainly to range resources-based livestock and pockets of arable farming based on rainfall and limited irrigated agriculture at several places. In this study agricultural sustainability of rain-fed agriculture is investigated in Botswana by considering the Pandamatenga plains as a case study. Daily soil moisture regimes with respect to crop growth cycle were modelled using a water balance model based on 42 years of daily hydro climatic inputs and corresponding simulated components of soil moisture, evaporation, surface runoff, and deep percolation. Using a sustainability criteria on crop water requirement and soil moisture availability during the cropping periods, it was found that rain-fed agriculture of maize, sunflower, and sorghum crops remains sustainable (with some degree of sustainability). By simulating the corresponding runoff, we have also explored that more water harvesting opportunities exist in order to manage rainfall excesses effectively in this vast agriculturally potential region of Botswana.
| Original language | English |
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| Journal | Journal of physics and chemistry of the earth |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 18 2018 |