RUN OFF RAINWATER
HARVESTING
THE PATH TO ENHANCED LIVELIHOODS
Introduction
Even though agriculture is an integral part of rural livelihoods of communities all over the
world, there are many instances when farmers in water scarce areas are unable to succeed in
their agricultural ventures due to the unavailability of water at correct time in required
quantities.
The aim of this Technical Brief is to create awareness of a successful method of “run off rain
water harvesting” which can be effectively used by resource poor farming households, to
overcome the hardships of nature. This method has been developed over a long period of time
by various institutions experts and community members, and people working with men and
women who live in drought situations.
Rainwater for Agriculture
Rain fed agriculture is not a novel idea to drought affected areas. As a counter measure to the
unpredictability of rain, communities developed various agricultural practices to suit ‘low water
intensive’ agriculture. Rainwater harvesting is one such method. In Sri Lanka, the first
evidences of rainwater harvesting can be traced back at least 2500 years to ancient
civilizations. The use of rainwater harvesting for agriculture has become common as a result of
the intermittent nature of rains in many Asian counties and is widely practiced in areas where
there is a failure of the seasonal rains, or drier climatic conditions persist for most part of the
year. Rainwater harvesting is a viable option for areas with two or three scattered rainy
seasons. In Sri Lanka, even the driest area would get an average annual rainfall of 1250mm.
In Sri Lanka, rain occurs only during four months of the year and during the remaining eight
months the
rainfall is
minimal.
Monthly Rainfall-SURIYAWEWA
Represents Andarawewa
1988
Therefore,
rainwater
harvesting
technology
helps to store
water in rainy
seasons, for
usage, during
the drought
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
season.
100
1998
50 1999
0
F JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Figure 1: Rainfall pattern in Suriyawewa - Hambantota District
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