The future for Africa in water and food security

                             “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today” – African Proverb

          
               During this time blogging I have been examining what the problems are regarding water and agriculture and why this has made food insecurity such an issue in Africa. Broadly, I have found that after decolonization of the continent there has been a lack of support through government and policy regarding water resources and empowering farmers. NGOs have been helping through funding and various projects, but this is a tricky area where small-scale farmers that still represent most of the African work force, may not be considered fully in the NGOs project. Further, this issue of food insecurity is emphasized by the dearth of resources towards small-scale farmers. I have explored ways in which Africa can actively abate this problem. Most prominently I have found in all my blog posts that an increase in irrigation and management of the actual irrigation is most vital to consider solving food insecurity. Therefore, I would like to finish this blog with a final mark on the connection between water and agriculture and the actual potential that the continent has in its groundwater that can be used for irrigating croplands. 


            The irrigation potential of Africa is vital to consider because of the untapped resources that are throughout the continent, and the overall importance that agriculture has on society. Presently,  only 6% of land that is equipped for irrigation is being used, but there is potential for agricultural productivity to increase by 50% through irrigation (You et al, 2011). One study by You et al, assessed the continent's overall potential for implementing irrigation through both dam-based and small-scale analyses. They found that there can be a 177% increase potential to expand irrigation in Africa over the next 50 years (You et al, 2011). In another study done by Pretty et al, they claimed that in order for Africa to have more sustainable agriculture in the future there needs to be an increase in water use efficiency, improvement of soil health and fertility, and pest control methods (Pretty et al, 2002). This research then analyzed 52 projects that began practicing agricultural development methods and technologies, including irrigation. The final results showed that on average, each project that included irrigation development in their cropland had an increase in per hectare food production of 93% (Pretty et al, 2002).

             Possibly the most robust study that has been done to assess the potential for irrigation in Africa was done by Altchenko and Villholth. In this project they determine the potential for irrigation based on the practicalities of renewable groundwater by looking at the hydrological characteristics of Africa. Most simply put, they were able to determine the irrigation potential by looking geographically at distinct locations in Africa and calculating the available groundwater resources that could be used for irrigation purposes (GWIP) (Altchenko and Villholth, 2015). The equation to determine the GWIP is shown in figure 1. 

Figure1: Equation used to determine groundwater resource irrigation potential (Source)

 This data was then put into different models and simulations to consider different scenarios of groundwater recharge and human needs, to try to fully determine the GWIP. In figure 2, two different scenarios are shown for GWIP considering different variabilities of groundwater recharge throughout Africa. 

Figure 2: Two different scenarios of GWIP (Source)

 The results of the study concluded that irrigation potential for agriculture purposes ranged from 44.6 to 105.3x10^6 ha. This relates to 20.5 to 48.6% of the cropland of Africa (Altchenko and Villholth, 2015). This concludes that while there is much potential for irrigation, it is not geographically equal throughout the continent, and there are still some locations where data is unsure or difficult to receive.
               In conclusion, what I have taken away from these research papers is that while there is a vast potential in Africa to start using groundwater resources for agriculture, this varies unequally throughout the continent. Although, I argue that with the positives that continuously show in the data of farms that have begun to irrigate their cropland and the consequent increase in food yield, irrigation implementation is necessary to secure food crops in the future. 


              As a final note to conclude this blog, I would like to end with my opinion on considering, in a perfect world, what the continent of Africa must execute in order to secure food crops, while considering the high-water variability. There needs to be a mixture of small-scale and large-scale irrigation projects, that most importantly asses both the environmental effects of the area and the socio-economic background of the small-family farmers. In addition, there needs to be an increase in policy and funds by governments, NGOs need to play a part in providing funds to farmers while creating a platform for them to continuously sustain their farms once they leave, and agricultural management techniques need to be set up on small and large scale farms. Most importantly, farmer's needs must be considered fully in whatever the future of African agriculture may be.  

Agricultural Water Managament

                                                      "Rain does not fall on one roof alone"- African Proverb

In this week I will discuss the theme of community management, which has consistently been a topic in our class lectures. Community management programs have proven to be more sustainable in terms of long-term socio-economic status of people in the community, care of the environment, and empowerment of the community through education and sharing of knowledge. In class we have considered management schemes that have been implemented in water sources for communities and in the waste management sector. For the purpose of this blog and the relation of agriculture to water I will look at management of water specifically for agricultural use and if in the future this will help food security issues.

            When discussing agricultural water management, this usually implies that the actual engineered technology for extracting water is irrigation. With the construction of an irrigation system, agricultural water management begins. Irrigation is determined by the “Area Equipped for Irrigation” (AI), which is said to increase in Africa from 15% to 25% by 2025 (Valipour, 2015). As touched on before, irrigation can result in both positive and negative outcomes. What has been noticed previously, that is imperative to the success of the irrigation scheme, is if the community is involved with the management of the irrigation itself and has been part of the entire process. If there is a weak relationship between the community farmers and the irrigation scheme, this leads to “negative or no impact on food security, household income and poverty reduction at large” (Ngenoh et al, 2015). Therefore, it is essential that management of the irrigation system is in the hands of the farmers and community itself.

            Broadly, agricultural water management focuses on three main goals; enabling the environment, organization and the individual. This is shown in figure 1 (Franks et al, 2008). Enabling the environment concerns the need for there to be policy implementation that includes multi-stakeholders that are part of the irrigation and agricultural system. Policy needs to be put into place on the management scheme directly, but also criteria of data collection and the environmental factors in place need to be considered. Communication is critical, where these different stakeholders will share their information, educate others and develop strategies. In the second part of agricultural water management, organization itself needs to be thought of. In each irrigation scheme there must be system managers, training of community members, and a concrete system that will be feasible to follow and have positive impacts for the farmers. Finally, the farmer itself as an individual needs to be thought of in this management process. Farmers need to be trained in these new agricultural techniques regarding the irrigation that would be put in place. There needs to be a continuous “knowledge network” of farmers communicating their knowledge of management, In addition, a set market for their goods, that has financial benefit to the farmers, has to be put in place (Franks et al, 2008). 

Figure 1: Layout of what an agricultural water management scheme should consider (Source)

            Studies have been done to quantify if agricultural water management has increased livelihood and food supplies in Africa. In one study AI was considered alongside water management and was given an irrigation efficiency index. This index was then compared to different variables. In the case of AI and the human development index, in all parts of Africa when the AI index increased, there was as increase in the human development index (Valipour, 2015). This is depicted in figure 2, where there is a clear increase throughout all areas of Africa. 

Figure 2: Data of study showing Human Development Index, vertical axis with AI index, horizontal axis (Source)

 A study conducted in Kenya also looked at the implications of agricultural water management in irrigation development and its effect on community members. In this study, productivity was the variable measured. The graph in figure 3 shows crop productivity from 1998 to 2010. From 2008 to 2010 the productivity showed a high increase because of the start of the public irrigation management scheme being put in place in Kenya (Ngenoh et al,2015). In this scheme, public irrigation depended on communtity agricultural water management systems. Therfore this increase also confirms that community involvement is necessary for increased crop yield. 

Figure 3: Graph displaying crop productivity versus year (Source)

In conclusion, there is a large consensus in the literature around agricultural water management that this is the quintessential way to produce sustainable food production and socio-economic status of the farmers themselves. It is key that farmers are fully integrated in the management of the irrigation process, and this should be done by education, communication, and policy put in place to create a long-lasting management scheme. As this blog continuously considers the future of food security in Africa, agricultural water management is something that should be imperative to countries in Africa to secure future populations in their supply of food.

A History of Food Insecurity in Africa

        
                                          "The ruin of a nation begins in the home of its people" - African Proverb 

           As I reflect on this blog, I have covered the ideas around farmers as experts, who have utilized ways to combat the invariability of water for centuries, the pros and cons of large scale and small scale irrigation, the increase in droughts and its relationship to agriculture, and finally what the New Green Revolution entails for African farmers. I recognize that each blog post heavily relies on my contemplation of the future of agriculture and water resources based on the main premise of lowering food insecurity. Therefore, before I delve into these next weeks in discussing methods to battle food insecurity, I am intrigued in the history of food insecurity problems in Africa.  This post will look at the broader scope of food insecurity, of not just considering water scarcity problems, but asking the question of when this became such an enormous problem and why has it still not been solved?

            In my research this past week I have unfortunately not been able to find a lot of resources on food insecurity in Africa dating past the late 1990s, but from the papers I have engaged with I have been able to learn about food insecurity problems from the 1990s to present. This is due to the African history being split into pre-colonial versus post-colonial, where presently Africa has been in the post-colonial era since the late 19^th century. Regarding food security in this time period, the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), were focusing on the problem worldwide. Yet in Africa, “numbers of malnourished persons in all developing countries are expected to fall 20% from 1990-2010, but in Sub-Saharan Africa, they are expected to rise 23% (Paarlberg,1999). Presently this is still the case, where food insecurity is still on the rise in Africa, but in other developing countries it is abating. In this post-colonial period, the key reasons, as shown in figure 1,  that have been studied regarding food insecurity as a critical problem in Africa, disregarding environmental problems, are issues of poor policy, lack of government in place and difficulties regarding boundaries, and socio-economic status of people. 

Figure 1: Flow chart depicting the different variables involved in food insecurity (Source)

            To discuss socio-economic status and its relation to food insecurity, a study was done that was able to quantify the different variables of food insecurity. It stated that the greatest impact on food insecurity was poverty, at 21%, where the environment came second at 17%. (Misselhorn, 2005). This is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2: Results from the Misselhorn study, finding that poverty was tallied as the most frequent reason for food insecurity (Source)

Poverty can link to many different hardships one might have regarding acquiring food. For instance, there can be lack of access to food, not enough money to purchase fertilizer or seeds to grow crops, and lack of access to government aid. Historically, food insecurity also grew due to little foreign help in the early 1990s to invest in African agriculture. To put in to terms, between 1988 and 1992 the total investment into Sub-Saharan African agriculture was 1.7 billion a year, whereas in Asia the annual net investment was 77 billion (Paarlberg, 1999) Clearly, when looking back at history these outside sources of money skipped Africa at this crucial time of decolonization. 

            Following this post-colonial time comes the complication of governments and governmental policy. According to the World Bank, in 1994, 29 of the Sub Saharan countries had deteriorating economies, where the World Bank considered their “sound macroeconomic stance, and macro-economic policies” as inadequate (Paarlberg,1999). This explains that in this time period governments, especially in the rural areas that are dependent on family farmers, were not able to provide a sound market or economy for the people. Following this insecurity of the government is the added layer of conflict arising from violent military conflicts and civil wars that occurred after decolonization. This disrupted food markets and food availability (Crush, 2012). In more current times there is still a problem of governmental policy. In 2006 to 2007, in what was deemed the “Food Riots”, people took to the streets in at least 14 countries to bring attention to the vital problem of food security. They protested about “the importance of pro-poor policies and investments and improved governance in addressing the problems facing the poor” (Berazneva, 2012). A study was done attempting to model the food riots and state the variables that made this occur. They found the relationship between political governance and civil liberties was a significant point of people rioting (Berazneva, 2012). Geographically, figure 3 depicts the wide-spread places where African food riots occured. 

Figure 3 : Map of Africa showing the places where food riots occurred (Source)

             In conclusion, looking past the problem of water in Africa, this week I was able to learn the breadth of the food insecurity problem and its history. I have drawn a conclusion that food insecurity has become an enormous issue over time becuase of the decolonization of Africa and the lack of governmental policy implementing food scarce programs, letting in additional help and the overall minimal support to the majority of people in poverty, including the farmers themselves. For future discussions on changing food insecurity problems, it is vital to realize that governmental policy needs to also fundamentally change.

The New Green Revolution

                                                      “There can be no peace without understanding” – African Proverb

            The term “Green Revolution” has been stated in many papers that I have read throughout my research on water and agriculture in Africa. I was inspired this week to investigate this idea and learn the basics of what the green revolution means for agriculture in Africa, and if it has helped in anyway with food security issues. 


            The new Green Revolution dates back to 2006 when the term was first coined and built into the overall institute of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Gates Foundation). AGRA was formed in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with the belief that “investing in agriculture is the surest path to reducing poverty and hunger in Africa” (Gates Foundation). To reach this goal, AGRA plans to give access to “good” seeds, to provide operation support, to market high-quality seeds that small scale farmers can buy and to give farmers access to fertilizer and seeds in small village shops (Gates Foundation). AGRA carefully claims to recognize that Africa is a country rooted in traditional methods, therefore they state they are building an “alliance of partners”. This means that the small holder farmers are continuously in conversation with businesses and companies and projects are “tailored” to the unique conditions of Africa. I will discuss in the next paragraph whether the fundamentals of AGRA have been successful in African agriculture. 

AGRA's logo, smartly choosing the color green (Source)

            One of AGRA’s goals is the implementation of new seeds, which has garnered alot of critique. Case studies have seen that these new seeds are more of a hindrance to the small-scale farmers. Farmers end up struggling with the new types because these seeds are not suited for the traditional farm that is still in place. AGRA’s seeds cannot respond to weather changes, are only suited for industrial monocultures, and have been found to not be more superior to local varieties of seeds (GRAIN, 2007). A study that was done in Gambia depicted that with these new AGRA seeds and farming techniques did not improve farms for the better. The study stated that there were higher crop yields in the crops that used the new seeds, yet this was “at the expense of women’s labor and led to decreases in other crops as well as agro-ecological knowledge” (Kerr, 2012). The chart in figure 1 shows these different variables. In addition, the paper concluded that the crop yields were marked unsustainable. Despite having an increase in that one crop due to AGRA's help, that same year there was an increase in imported rice in Gambia, and the percent of undernourished people increased from 20 to 30 (Kerr, 2012). 

Figure 1: Chart showing the different variables tested in Gambia (Source)

            Regarding the holistic view of AGRA and what they stand for there has been a lot of backlash from the local small holder farms and with some of the scientific community that studies agriculture in Africa. Much of the critique of AGRA is the idea that they are setting up these new farming techniques in the hope to privatize the market in their interest alone. Although they claim to be working directly with the local communities, before the launch of their multi-million-dollar strategy there was absolutely no consultation with small scale family farmers. Rather, AGRA partnered with large biotech companies as well as the one chairman, Kofi Annan, whom in no way can represent 50 countries and 680 million people (Mittal, 2009). With this privatization of the market and exclusion of the local community, there is the increased worry that AGRA is setting up a conglomeration of a few large-scale agribusinesses that farmers will have to rely on for seeds and fertilizers (Kerr, 2012). One of these companies that AGRA has paired up with is Monsanto, which is seen in the poster in figure 2. To make things messier there is the added layer that AGRA  has partnered with certain politicians to make their business now of political and economic interests (GRAIN, 2007). 

Figure 2: One of the companies that AGRA has paired with is Monsanto (Source)

            As I think back to the first post where I talk about the importance of the farmer’s expertise and traditional knowledge of their methods and land, all these critiques of the new Green Revolution, specifically stemming from AGRA, come from the utter lack of this recognition of farmers being the experts. Adding to this is the importance that if local family farms are not prioritized this is extremely dangerous, as they account for 70% of the work force and are already growing food in a food insecure place. Therefore, if AGRA is just trying to privatize the market without respecting the small farmers at stake then I believe this is morally wrong and will also not fix the problem of food insecurity.

What does an increase in droughts mean for African Agriculture?

                                 “The ruin of a nation begins in the home of its people” – African Proverb

            Now that I have established different methods of irrigation that African countries are adopting, I acknowledge that there is this overall sense of urgency regarding food security and introducing more farm savvy technologies to African countries. I ask myself if there are other variables adding to this imperativeness of irrigating farmlands. While researching this, overwhelmingly there is a consensus that climate change is significantly affecting farmland through the increase in the number of droughts. With this anthropogenic change occurring in past decades, droughts have caused much harm to farmers and is therefore another reason for introduction of irrigation methods in Africa. This blog post will address the overall increase of droughts and then will analyze what it means for the farming industry and the livelihood of the farmers. 

Picture of a drought in East Africa (Source)

            As climate change threatens all humans, it does not affect everyone equally. This is the case in the continent of Africa, where climate change is already hurting people’s everyday lives because of the significant increase in droughts. Here with extreme differences in seasons regarding rainfall, and the reliance of flood water from the shift of the ITCZ, a change in this weather pattern will be devastating to African agriculture. This change in seasonal rainfall is now seen returning yearly, providing an increase in droughts. In East Africa specifically, drought frequency has doubled from one every six years to one every three years, and from 2008-2010 drought affected over 13 million people in East Africa (Haile, 2019). Most notably changed is the decline of rains in the boreal spring, which is usually the long rainy season. In addition, in the boreal summer a decrease in rainfall also has been occuring. Whereas, in the boreal autumn, usually with short rains, there is a general increase in rainfall (Haile, 2019). This mirrors the increase or decrease in droughts, where in the summer and spring droughts are more frequent, severe and last longer, whereas in autumn droughts decrease. In South Africa, drought has also been prominent where between the years of 2014 to 2016, each new year was consecutively drier. Regarding the entirety of Africa, the Royal Meteorological Society has been tracking droughts since the 1970s worldwide and Africa has perpetually been on the list of hotspots for drought up to present day (Spinoni, 2013). This is seen in figure 1 showing the drought hotspots of the world increasing over time, and specifically in Africa. 

           

Figure1: Map depicting drought hotspots from 1951-2010 (Source)

      
          With the establishment that droughts have become more frequent in Africa, I will answer the question as to why this matters so profoundly to Africa. One of the biggest proponents for droughts being a hindrance is that Africa is still primarily reliant on traditional means of using the seasonality of water and dependence of flooding to grow crops. As Kreike says, “A key factor in identifying Africa as the most vulnerable continent is the very perception that African societies are directly dependent on their fickle environment” (Kreike, 2019). The most visible way of quantifying this is the stark decrease in food crop yield when there is a drought. During a 2011 drought in Kenya the entire agriculture sector produced 20% of its normal yields, in Somalia there was the lowest yield of sorghum and maize in 15 years, and in Northern Kenya 70-80% of the livestock had to migrate out of the region (Perez, 2019). With the 11 countries that are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the constituents reported that in the dry season of 2017 to 2018, food insecurity increased 28%. The countries only harvested 37.5 million tons of grains in the growing season, which is 5.4 million tones fewer than the amount needed for consumption (Mpofu, 2019). In figure 2, the graph shows the abundance of food insecure areas for East Africa that are predicted becuase of increase in droughts. This devastating pattern continues throughout the various countries of Africa affected by drought, where drought profusely affects food crop yield, adding to food insecurity in these already fragile conditions. 

           

    Figure 2: East Africa food insecure areas that are predicted by the FEWS NET (Source)


           This obvious concern for droughts increasing food insecurity is part for the call to irrigate lands. If continuously farmers are unable to provide food this is a major problem for other Africans but also for the livelihood of the farmers. When the farmers cannot provide food, it is the main reason for food price increase, migration, hunger and unemployment (Haile, 2019). Some of these variables are shown in figure 3. In South Africa in the 2017-2018 drought, 25,000 jobs were lost from the agricultural sector, and in the country itself R 5 billion was lost to the economy because of the drought (Kalaba, 2019). In most cases, farmers are the first to not have food themselves if there is a drought, and in Somalia this was related to an increase in food conflict defined as,“ damaged infrastructure and outbreaks of violence can reduce access to markets and agricultural lands” (Perez, 2019). Overall, there is an imbalance in the countries of Africa as most of the people who will be affected by droughts themselves are farmers. In this situation, the poverty and socio-economic statuses of farmers will inequitably decrease.

           

                    Figure 3: This chart shows the different variables affected by droughts (Source)


          This problem of climate change and droughts, and the power it has to increase food insecurity, in a continent that already struggles immensely with food yields, adds another call to introduce irrigation, and new farming techniques. With irrigation methods in place farmers will become more resilient to droughts and will be able to battle future food insecurity. Therefore, energy should be focused to invigorating farming methods to prepare for drought, where irrigation could be one of the main methods to do so. Although, as researched before, irrigation alone will not be the sole answer to solving this problem of food insecurity. 

Small Scale Irrigation in Sub Saharan Africa: The other irrigation option

                       “If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far go together” – African Proverb

In last week's blog I touched on Large Scale Irrigation (LSI) projects in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) and concluded that from irregular financial resources, most projects have not helped in aiding food security. This week I will be considering the latter option being looked at to decrease food insecurity, which is small scale irrigation (SSI). To be consistent, I will be discussing SSI projects only in SSA. 

Unlike traditional farming methods regarding water use, which is still the dominant way of farming in SSA, SSI does involve some sort of new construction system to be put into place. With regards to LSI, the fundamental difference is the ownership that farmers have over the SSI system, as well as the overall amount of land that is irrigated. Adams defines SSI as“… the management of the supply of water to crops or other economically useful plants, which is initiated organized and controlled by the landholder or groups of landholders; the extent of such activities does not normally exceed 10 ha per farm family, and may be as little as 0.1 ha” (Adams,1987). The key point from this definition that is important for this blog post is the emphasis on the farmers controlling and organizing the irrigation system. Some forms of SSI that can be used are; rainwater harvesting, flood recession, river diversion, treadle pumps and flood water spreading (Tafesse,2003). I will now focus on the positives and negatives researched about SSI projects to answer the question of whether this is a more promising method than LSI to battle food scarcity in SSA. 

Treadle Pump being used as a form of SSI (Source)

 Recently, the International Food Policy Institute and many NGOs have stated that more resources need to go into SSI in SSA as this is deemed the most proficient way to increase food supply sustainably. Arguably the main overarching reason for the push of SSI is to empower family farmers with knowledge of maintaining their own irrigation system. Therefore, in the long run farmers will be able to sustain themselves with little help from NGOs or government. The focal point of SSI is around the farmers becoming an essential part of the irrigation management. In a perfect world this is called Operation and Management, otherwise known as O&M, where the local people will manage and take over the irrigation system, after some initial help with building from a government or private company (Sakaki, 2013). SSI systems are also encouraged due to the low cost of implementation. Farmers and the town community can use their own money sometimes to buy a SSI system which can then be monitored and operated by the community. Perhaps the most important variable of SSI is the data on positive increase in food crop yield in the dry seasons. Consequently, this has raised farmers’ incomes in the dry season, “In Tanzania, an estimated 50% of the cash incomes of smallholders involved in private irrigation is derived from dry season vegetable cultivation” (Fraiture, 2014). Overall, as I considered the basis of SSI systems that were written in these research papers, there is an overwhelming consensus that if SSI is put in place with consistent management, it will help the community economically and provide more food. 

Farm profit in Ghana, comparisons showing unirrigated versus irrigated farms (Source)

Much of what is the negative or more worrying aspect of SSI, is the dependency of the management of the local farmers and the relationship to whatever their initial financial source may be. Management wise there is a problem of control. In some cases, farmers may lose interest in maintaining their irrigation systems or on the flip side, there could be problems with sharing said ownership with the government or an NGO. Figure 1 is able to show a scenario of what may arise from community management complexities. 

Figure 1: Depiction of the different problems that can arise from a community managed system (Source)

Adding more confusion to this O&M situation is the amount of people working on the project and the easy way that one group could be left out with all these different actors. 

Figure 2: This matrix depicts the different factors that will go into the management of the SSI (Source)

Questions of roles regarding different families working together, the part of a woman in management, if the community can keep up maintenance costs, and traditional values are all aspects that can hinder the perfect O&M system, this is shown by all the variables in figure 2. The most ethical way to avoid this problem is stated by Barnett that each new irrigation project must be treated as its own, ranging from country to country or even city to city. This is due to different ways of life and knowledge in each community that needs to be at the center of the SSI system (Barnett, 1984). Another factor for SSI not working is environmental issues. With blurred lines of who owns the water pump it is easy for a farmer to consider it as their own and overuse the water source. In Ghana, farmers on the edge of the reservoir do not ask permission to draw water from the reservoir directly, which can incite many problems socially and environmentally (Fraiture, 2014). Additionally, if there is poor land management of the O&M system this could lead to land degradation or poor water quality if not monitored correctly (Tafesse, 2003). 

The potential of SSI in SSA is hopeful as one of the necessary ways to reduce food insecurity and poverty. Compared to LSI, smaller irrigation projects have proven to be more worthwhile in terms of empowerment of the community and allowing family farmers to have their land while most importantly providing a water source throughout the dry season. With this utopic way of looking at SSI, compared to my finding last week on LSI, smaller irrigation projects seem the better way economically and socially for SSA. Although, as seen in the negatives that research has touched on concerning management of SSI, it will only be shown with time if these community management schemes will be able to last in the long term to be a safe and productive option for food security issues.

Large Scale Irrigation in Sub Saharan Africa: Good, or Bad?

                               "Where water is the boss there the land must obey" - African proverb 

My investigation this week is based on the potential of large-scale farming in Africa to decrease food insecurity. With the premise of water scarcity as the main variable in this blog, I will look specifically at irrigation methods that have been implemented, and if they have increased crop yield. This week I hope to answer if large scale irrigation (LSI) practices are a worthy candidate to eliminate food scarcity in Africa. 

            To irrigate lands in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), which will be the focus this week geographically, on paper is a “no brainer”. Here, rainfall is extremely seasonal, lands are arid and socially it is home to some of the greatest poverty in Africa. Yet in SSA only 3-5% of crops are irrigated, while farming taking up the livelihood of 2/3 of the population (Adams, 1991). During my research of LSI, I came across three projects that have been studied extensively, specifically in the SSA region. These are the Bakolori Project, the Sokoto state project and the South Chad Irrigation Project. The irrigation methods adopted in these areas were all based on a large-scale dam, or reservoir, to hold water throughout the year, with canals and pipes to connect to farms. Studies were conducted to monitor the effect of these three projects over the course of 20 years. I will state here that I must critique myself for basing my hypothesis of LSI in SSA only on three projects, is no way holistic of the continent of Africa, and even the region of SSA. But for the purpose of this blog and specific topic, to explore these projects made an interesting case. What I found is a case denying any advantageous qualities of LSI to increase food production. The negative outcomes of LSI were through project development not being followed through and adverse impacts both environmentally and socially. 

Map depicting where the three LSI irrigation projects are (Source)

In the case of project development at these three sites, the amount of land initially set to be irrigated by the LSI systems was never reached because of construction never concluding. In the Bakolori project the aim was to have 300,000 ha irrigated. Eight years later the number dropped to 125,000 ha. Even more drastically, in the following six years and the final year of the project, the number dropped to only 30,706 ha irrigated (Adams, 1991). Similarly, in the Lake Chad project, the construction of a pipe supply canal that would be connected to the Tiga dam was halted due to financial constraints. Subsequently, this caused there to be only 12,000 ha irrigated rather than the initial goal of 82,000 ha (Adams, 1991). In the Sokoto state the same pattern occurred, with less irrigated land due to lack of following the development plans. 

In these three areas, because of the inability to produce irrigated land, crop yield decreased with the under-developed LSI systems in place. This greatly tied into the livelihood of the SSA residents, especially the small family farm workers. To depict this, figure 1 shows the projected crop yield compared to the actual crop yield in the South Chad project, where crops yielded only 17-69 % of what was projected. Additionally, seen on the graph is the concern that a drop in crop yield will elevate the possibility of decreasing crop yield in further seasons. 

Figure 1: Projected vs actual crop yields in South Chad Irrigation System (Source)

Financially this is explained by calculating the failure costs of LSI in SSA compared to non-SSA regions, “The average unit total cost of failed new construction projects in SSA is US$23,200 per ha…. more than twice the average of failed projects in non-SSA” (Inocencio, 2007). In other words, if there is a lower crop yield this impacts the SSA region incomparably to the other developing regions this paper examined. This extends the problem that if LSI is not developed well enough to produce a sustaining crop yield, this will hurt the livelihood of African people in SSA more extremely in future years. 

            In terms of environmental problems associating with socio-economic status, this connects to the dependency of the SSA on the seasonality of rain and flooding for small-scale agriculture practices and fishing. When a dam is set in place this disrupts the natural ecology of the river basin. In Bakolori, the reservoir built forced a natural floodplain to be completely covered. Small family farm crops were lost and precious land that was able to hold nutrients and water moisture throughout the year was erased (Yahaya, 2002). On a broader note; in all three projects due to the construction of large dams, people were displaced from their land. In Bakolori, 13,000 family farms were left without a home or their means of life, farming (Yahaya, 2002). In the Kano River project small-scale farmers had to sell their land and then search for work in the now bigger farm schemes, making an “increased inequality in land and income distributions” (Adams, 1991). Overall, these environmental land changes from the LSI systems brought new socio-economic conflicts to the already, poverty-stricken area of the SSA. 

The Bakolori Dam to show its immense size (Source)

            Regarding my research this week, I find myself asking even more questions than when I first started examining the topic of LSI. Looking at these projects that have been monitored in the SSA, what stood out to me were the predominate facts of failure; crop yield decrease, environmental ecological problems, a wider gap in socio-economic status and to touch on my overall theme, a seemingly greater problem of food scarcity. I have noted that this overarching negative outcome of the three projects was greatly due to the infrastructure planned not being completely built, because of financial and governmental constraints on the project. In theory, the potential of LSI was never fully realized. I conclude with the question of if larger irrigation practices to help food security will only successfully work if there is enough continuous resources and aid from larger organizations, or if the larger systems will fundamentally not work and resources should be given to small scale farmers only?