Woolies is conserving water one alien invasive tree at a time
Woolworths has been working in a water stewardship partnership in the beautiful Ceres Valley of the Western Cape, South Africa, since 2013.
Located about 135 kilometres north-east of Cape Town, Ceres is an area famous for its fruit production. Thanks to its rich soils and unique growing conditions, the area is home to many of Woolworths’ fruit and vegetable suppliers. With climate models predicting lower rainfall trends into the future as well as periodic droughts, many farmers in this water-scarce region are concerned whether water availability will continue to meet demand so they can keep growing their precious crops.
It was for this reason that Woolworths and Marks & Spencer, together with WWF-South Africa, the Alliance for Water Stewardship and the German Development Bank (GIZ) initially identified the opportunity to work with a group of stone fruit farmers here. The aim: to help identify shared water challenges that could be solved collectively and to create stronger, more resilient farming systems.
After looking at their own farms and making sure that they were operating in the most water-efficient way possible, these farmers began to look beyond their fences at factors that were outside their individual control. One of the key challenges they identified was invasive alien vegetation in their catchment area.
This vegetation, not native to South Africa, is seriously water hungry, sucking up an average of 4% of SA’s fresh water before it can reach the dams that agriculture and our population as a whole rely on. These aliens also push out natural vegetation, degrade soil and pose fire risks.
In times of drought, and when farmers are under severe water restrictions, having 4% more water can make a big difference, especially in the Western Cape, which is full of alien plants such as wattle, hakea, eucalypts and pines.
The challenge was to find ways of clearing alien vegetation on such a huge scale. In addition to cooperation and participation from landowners in a particular area, there is also a need for follow-up work to stop the plants growing back again.
Two years ago, Woolworths realised that what was needed in the Ceres area was a Clearing Coordinator. Initially funded by Woolworths, housed by the Wolseley Water User Association, and in partnership with Landcare, local catchment management agency (BGCMA) and the Western Cape Treasury, this Coordinator has successfully managed to garner funding from both the private and public sectors and has brought together the local farming community in a coordinated effort.
The immense success of this programme has seen an unbelievable 115 hectares cleared to date, releasing over 123 million litres of freshwater back into the environment.
The model has been so successful that it has since been replicated in Riviersonderend and George, where it is funded by Nedbank and SAB respectively.
Alien clearing contributes to over 180 000 jobs in South Africa and is critical for the health of our ecosystems and freshwater supplies.
This work is part of a wider Woolworths commitment to alien clearing as a means of conserving South Africa’s freshwater resources. Since 2007, Woolworths has invested in numerous WWF-South Africa initiatives. So far, some 530 million litres of freshwater have been replenished through these partnerships.