To identify opportunities for water efficiency in the agriculture sector and analyse the barriers to improvement in this area, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched a study as part of its Agroprocessing Resource Efficiency Programme.

In partnership with the IFC’s partner, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), the programme was launched last year, and is aimed at improving water efficiency and overall water consumption, and mitigating water supply decline risks in the agriculture sector.

The study has, so far, interviewed more than 50 private firms, government agencies and associations, IFC manufacturing, agribusiness and services adviser Raymond Greig said last month, adding that the findings from the study would drive the programme for the next three years.

The programme has identified five focus areas where local government can support water efficiency and agroprocessing, among which strengthening institutions, developing partnerships and stewardships play a role.

Additionally, Greig noted that these areas, as well as improving on-site practice, strengthening regulation and improving integrated planning, would play a significant role in improving water efficiency, especially considering that, by 2030, water demand was expected to exceed supply by 17%.

Total water withdrawals for all sectors in South Africa are forecast to 2035, with 2050 marking the point at which water supply vulnerability will play a bigger role in climate change and medium population growth.

Highlighting the importance of water for agriculture, Greig told the media that the agroprocessing sector alone used about 130-million kilolitres of water a year, of which animal slaughtering took up 26%, brewing and malting 17% and dairy 12%.

Subsectors that could realise benefits from implementing water efficiency programmes included the poultry, dairy, red meat, fruit and vegetable, brewing and malting sectors, whereas the pulp and paper, sugar and wineries industries are less likely to benefit, considering that these sectors already employ best practice methods.

Through the study, the IFC has so far identified drivers for water efficiency, which include business continuity and corporate social responsibility, as well as wastewater regulations and tariffs.

However, barriers included a poor business case for water projects, owing to the low cost of water, lack of access to information on best practices and a complex licensing system, as well as a lack of information on future tariffs and restrictions. Public perceptions also played a role in these, Greig said.

Through the programme, the IFC is hopeful that it can address some of these challenges.

According to Greig, the next steps in the programme would be undertaking a resource efficiency benchmarking study for the red meat abattoir sector.

Through this study, the IFC intends to benchmark the use of water, energy and resource use in the sector.

This study will include up to 30 beef, pork and lamb abattoirs, and will compare with international best practices.

Following completion, the IFC intends to develop best practice guidelines and self-assessment tools, and is already engaging with selected abattoirs to assist in the development of specific projects.