Technical report: water stewardship for stone fruit farmers

This technical report evaluates water use efficiency and the application of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard among stone fruit farmers in the Western Cape of South Africa. It combines orchard-scale biophysical measurements of peach and plum trees with farm-scale assessments of water balance and quality across nine volunteer farms in the Breede catchment. The report finds that while Western Cape farmers are significantly more water-efficient than global averages, there are local opportunities to reduce water use by up to 20-30% through improved irrigation scheduling and the use of correct crop factors. It also details the implementation of the AWS standard, identifying drought, social risks (such as infrastructure theft), and regulatory uncertainty as primary concerns for farmers.

• Western Cape stone fruit production is significantly more water-efficient than global averages. The agricultural water footprint for apples, nectarines, peaches, and plums in the region is 2 to 10 times smaller than commonly available global average footprints.
• Drip irrigation is more efficient than micro-jet irrigation for stone fruit. In a comparison between a peach orchard using micro-jets and a plum orchard using drip irrigation, the drip-fed plums received far less water per tree (3,750 litres) than the micro-jet-fed peaches (6,012 litres), despite both orchards receiving the same total amount of irrigation per hectare.
• There is significant potential for water savings through the adoption of accurate crop factors (Kc) for irrigation scheduling. Some farmers assume a Kc of 1.0, but actual evapotranspiration for micro-sprinkler irrigated peaches is on average 0.7 of the reference evapotranspiration (ET0), meaning a farmer could potentially save 20-30% of their water by using correct factors.
• Farmers in the Breede catchment identify drought, social risks, and regulatory uncertainty as primary threats. Social risk is specifically characterized as a risk to the farm's water supply from society, primarily through the theft and vandalism of copper in pumps, taps, and electric cables.
• The use of irrigation to mitigate fruit sunburn represents a substantial water cost. Farmers frequently apply irrigation in pulses to cool the canopy microclimate, as at least 15% of some fruit types are lost to sunburn annually.
• Farm-scale water balance calculations for nine participating farms showed varied results: three farms had a very positive water balance, one had a good surplus, four had just enough water, and one operated at a negative water balance with no water to spare.
• Water quality testing across participating farms revealed localized issues, including elevated electrical conductivity (EC) due to soil salinity in the middle catchment and nutrient increases (nitrates and phosphates) in some runoff, though some natural wetlands were found to effectively filter E. coli concentrations.
• The testing of the AWS Beta standard indicated that while the framework is a useful tool for engagement and identifying threats, farmers expressed concerns about the complexity of the standard and the burden of multiple certifications. There is a expressed preference for integrating the AWS standard into existing frameworks like GlobalGAP to avoid dual auditing.

APA

Dzikiti, S., & Schachtschneider, K. (2015). Technical report: water stewardship for stone fruit farmers. WWF South Africa. http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/wwf_water_stewardshiptechreport_2015.pdf

Chicago

Dzikiti, S., and K. Schachtschneider. Technical report: water stewardship for stone fruit farmers. WWF South Africa, 2015. http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/wwf_water_stewardshiptechreport_2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dzikiti |first1=S. |last2=Schachtschneider |first2=K. |title=Technical report: water stewardship for stone fruit farmers |publisher=WWF South Africa |date=January 2015 |url=http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/wwf_water_stewardshiptechreport_2015.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dzikiti2015technical, author = {Dzikiti, S. and Schachtschneider, K.}, title = {{Technical report: water stewardship for stone fruit farmers}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2015}, month = jan, url = {http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/wwf_water_stewardshiptechreport_2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }