Water & Food in Africa

I have sadly come to the end of my blogging journey. In this post, I will briefly reflect on what has been covered and future trajectories.   Needless to say, the topic of water and food in Africa is extremely broad. Throughout my blog, I have explored the various ways in which nations across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have sought to improve agricultural productivity and food security using different water management, extraction and distribution techniques.  By focusing on individual nations for each case study and considering their unique situations, I have tried to avoid the all-too-common treatment of Africa as if it were one homogenous nation . Upon reflection, I realise that my earlier posts are largely focused on institutional-level interventions and policies including virtual water trading, integrated water resource management and desalinisation schemes. Whilst these are effective to an extent, they do not always explicitly consider the needs of smallholders. As these far...

  Last week I introduced GWI and the ways in which it could improve Zambia’s agricultural productivity and food security. This post will consider some of GWI’s issues and what this could mean for the future.   Logistical Considerations Over the last two decades, the use of motor pumps for smallholder GWI in particular has increased considerably .   Since the late 1980s, the retail price of 3-5 ho rsepower pumps (as seen in Figure 1 ) has declined to approximately US$200 . This  has made them  more accessible for smallholders  and encouraged a transition from less-effective treadle pumps .  Figure 1   Diagram of a typical portable motor pump used for GWI in Zambia. This has led Colenbrander and van Koppen (2013) to conclude that motor pumps would satisfy  The Zambia Irrigation Policy & Strategy's aim of "alleviat [ing]  p overty and food security" by upgrading existing and creating new public sector, (smallholder) farmer-man...

‎ Over the last two weeks, I investigated the use of GM crops to improve food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Ethiopia. Moving on, this will be the  first post of a two-part series exploring the potential of another method  in improving food security and agricultural productivity in Zambia:  groundwater irrigation (GWI). Groundwater's Recognition Before we explore GWI, it is important to consider groundwater's recognition in the field of hydrology.  Going back to my first post , you may remember Malin Falkenmark's Water Stress Index (WSI) which explicitly  linked food security to freshwater availability . Early applications of the WSI  equated renewable freshwater resources to mean annual river runoff (MARR ) . However,  MARR con ceals intra- and inter-annual variabilities in freshwater  which are  extreme in sub-Saharan Africa . By adopting MARR, the WSI  views changes in soil moisture and groundwater storage as insignifica...

  Last week I explored potential gains to be made from TELA maize and the mainstream commercialisation of GMOs in Ethiopia. This post will consider the downsides and future of this technology. No Perfect Solution Like anything, GMOs do not come without their downfalls.  Although GMOs can  increase productivity and make agriculture more sustainable , their  benefits are not always felt equitably . Studies have found that in Ethiopia,  most agricultural investment goes to large state-owned farms  which comprise only 5% of all producers .  Moreover,  only state farms receive subsidies for GM crops . These factors  prevent smallholder "peasant" farmers from accessing improved seed varieties , entrenching socio-economic inequalities. If GMOs are going to be commercialised at scale not only in Ethiopia but across Africa, accessibility must be improved through lower costs.  Despite this  "biotechnology bias" , investment and...

My last post highlighted the potential of desalinisation for agriculture in the Horn of Africa. Although promising, this offers little for nations without extensive coastlines.  This entry will introduce the potential of genetically modified (GM) crops in mitigating the effects of drought and improving food security in land-locked Ethiopia.  Introducing Ethiopia & Genetic Modification Rising temperatures, infrequent rainfall, population pressures and land-use changes have all contributed to Ethiopia's susceptibility to drought. Drought  occurs when there is decreased water availability in a given area  arising from below-average rainfall . Given Ethiopia's high dependence on rain-fed cropping, drought often has  catastrophic  impacts for food production .  Moreover, adaptive capacity is limited due to insufficient infrastructure and has been worsened by the  enduring Tigray civil conflict .  Climate change means droughts a...

Following my previous post on institutional freshwater management in one of Africa's wealthiest nations, this entry will do a  180° turn to explore a form of small-scale innovation in the continent's  second-poorest nation , Somalia.  Situating Somalia  Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa, one of the world’s most food-insecure  regions.  In past decades, it has been subject to recurrent droughts, water shortages and famine, the effects of which are exacerbated by long-standing civil conflict . Given harsh climatic conditions and incredibly low proportions of arable land , innovative approaches are being piloted as a means of achieving food security in the autonomous region of Somaliland. Here, we turn to Seawater Greenhouse’s desalination pilot project in Berbera.    A Bit About Berbera Berbera is characterised by its hot desert climate and low average precipitation (50mm per annum) . Summer months are intense: temperatures exceed 45 ˚C...

In last week's blog we touched upon the importance of considering competing demands in freshwater provision within the context of virtual water trade. Here, I will explore the ways in such demands have been balanced through Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) in South Africa  whilst also ensuring food security. Defining IWRM First of all, what is IWRM? The most commonly used definition is that which was coined by the  Global Water Partnership :  "a process which promotes the co-ordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems" .    Put simply, IWRM is a holistic strategy that incorporates management of the physical environment within that of the wider political and socio-economic framework .  Since the  1992 World Summit on Sustainable Development , IWRM has been widely advoc...

Kenya is said to be in crisis: a water crisis . This has veritable implications for the country's food production and security.  It is therefore  imperative that freshwater resources are better managed and distributed . This  post will consider the potential of Virtual Water Trade (VWT) in achieving both water and food security in Kenya.  Water in Kenya Kenya is generally characterised as water scarce. This has been attributed to a combination of  poor infrastructure, recurrent droughts and most notably, population pressures . With the nation's population predicted to   more than double by 2050 t o 85 million ,  per capita renewable blue water will diminish to 316m 3 , significantly below the quantity needed for an adequate diet. Moreover,  Kenya's freshwater resources are unevenly distributed  ( Figure 1 ). This is especially true for green water: arid northern and eastern regions have  annual precipitation rates as low as 200mm , ...

  Welcome to my blog where I will be exploring the complexities of water and food in Africa. I hope to offer insight into some of the strategies being employed to address both water and food security in countries across the continent.   Water  Water is integral to humanity. It covers 71% of the Earth's surface but only 0.5% of this is  available  freshwater .  Different climates and physiography have produced an inequitable distribution of freshwater worldwide. Africa is home to 20% of the world’s population but has just 9% of total renewable freshwater .  To put this into perspective, the United States accounts for only 4.5% of the population yet 8% of renewable freshwater . Although freshwater levels have remained relatively stable (~3% of all water) since the Mesozoic era, population growth has resulted in a threefold increase in its use .  Faced with the growing uncertainty resulting from climate change, it is now more...