Water & Food in Africa

‎ 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 insignificant .   The exclusion of groundwater i

  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 subsidies for state-owned farms  can  increase n

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 are becoming more intense and frequent. It is theref

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 , and winds regularly top spee