Farmers stymied by permits
A NEW study has found that outdated, colonial-era water permit systems across Africa are unintentionally criminalising millions of small farmers who can’t obtain permits. This undermines efforts to boost farming production and meet economic growth goals.
The study examined water permit systems in five African countries: Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The permit system was introduced by colonial powers in the 1920s. They were designed to regulate water use in the interests of the colonial project by granting permits only to white settlers.
These systems established minority ownership of a natural resource that was vital for economies dependent on agriculture. African customary water arrangements were ignored and overridden.
These colonial style permit systems are still in use across the countries that were examined, and elsewhere in Africa. As a result, legal access to water through permits remains biased towards a few large users, such as largescale irrigated farms, mines and industries, who are able to navigate the complicated and expensive process of permit application.
At the same time, customary regimes are expanding in informal rural economies, where millions of small and micro-scale water users invest in water infrastructure for selfsupply and water sharing. Farmerled irrigation development is the backbone of food security.
The bad news is that permit obligations have expanded to cover all water users, even those using small pumps to irrigate a few hectares. Smallscale water users who don’t have permits are, according to the legal texts, effectively committing an offence which carries a penalty of being fined, jailed or both.
The micro-scale users who are exempted from requiring a permit have a weaker legal status than permit holders. So women who irrigate vegetables for family nutrition at their homesteads, for example, have no way to safeguard their water uses. They have to compete for water with largescale users with permits.
There’s a way to address this. A guide for African policymakers has been developed that proposes a “hybrid approach” to deal with the problem. Instead of providing legal protection to a few, the approach recognises water uses governed by customary laws at equal legal standing as permits.
This is a suitable way for smallscale water users to invest in infrastructure and solve water sharing conflicts. And prioritisation of water uses that’s aligned with national goals and constitutional commitments protects the most vulnerable.
This approach is administratively lean. By targeting existing permits to regulate largescale water users and integrating this with alternative arrangements for smallscale users, the administrative burdens that disadvantage many under the current systems can be overcome.
Collective permits where possible and appropriate would also be effective. This could preserve customary arrangements and protect local smallscale water users. It could overcome the bureaucratic hurdles faced by smallscale users and lessen the burden on governments to implement individual permit systems.
In practice, a hybrid approach to regulating water use is already in use because water authorities lack the resources to raise awareness and to process and enforce millions of permits.