Course overview
Land degradation, unreliable rainfall, declining groundwater, sedimentation and competing water demands can quickly undermine agricultural production, rural livelihoods, infrastructure and ecosystem services. Resource managers must make defensible decisions about where to conserve soil, store water, improve irrigation, protect catchments and manage access. They also need to work with customary practices, land tenure arrangements and the priorities of communities whose knowledge and labour sustain local resource systems.
This course develops practical capability in land and water resource assessment, conservation planning and local implementation. Participants examine catchment processes, soil properties, erosion risks, rainwater harvesting, irrigation scheduling, agroforestry, grazing management and watershed protection. They use established approaches including Integrated Water Resources Management, the Universal Soil Loss Equation, FAO-56 crop water requirements and water accounting. The course also addresses customary governance, gendered resource access, conflict resolution, climate risk and monitoring of field interventions.
Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with applied case work drawn from irrigated agriculture, rangelands, smallholder farming, community water systems and catchment restoration. Participants interpret maps, rainfall data, soil observations and water-demand information, then test management choices against cost, maintenance, equity and environmental effects. They leave with a structured land and water management plan template, assessment checklists, monitoring indicators and decision models that can be adapted to their own programme, site or portfolio. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the five-day course.
The course is suited to professionals responsible for agricultural development, climate adaptation, watershed management, environmental compliance, rural infrastructure and natural resource programmes.
