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.