ABSTRACT
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) has great potential to contribute to poverty reduction efforts by improving agricultural productivity and profitability in rainfed areas in Africa and Asia (Rockström et al., 2010). Rainwater harvesting is about collecting, conserving, storing, and utilizing rainwater for various purposes (domestic use, livestock watering, or agriculture). Rainwater is best collected where it falls, through in-situ conservation and/or channeling excess runoff water in a guided manner from catchment areas into storage reservoirs for various uses, especially for agriculture. But efforts to exploit the rainwater potential is a real challenge in the rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where over 70% of the population live, most of them engaged in smallholder agriculture. Three core assets for these people include land, water, and human capital, albeit they are beset with various constraints. However, smallholder agriculture relies on traditional agronomic and/or agro-pastoral practices poorly matched to declining land space and technologies. At the continental level, Africa has about 874 million ha of land considered suitable for agricultural production, but 83% of it faces water and/or soil-related constraints to productivity (NEPAD 2003; World Bank 2006).
