A closer look at irrigation
“There is no reason why Africa cannot be self‐sufficient when it comes to food. It has sufficient arable land. What's lacking is the right seeds, the right irrigation, but also the kinds of institutional mechanisms that ensure that a farmer is going to be able to grow crops, get them to market, get a fair price” -Barack Obama (Lankford, 2009)
I am starting this week's blog with this quote as it shows what I will be examining and also restates how important the need for investment in Africa’s irrigation is to ensure a bright future. The quote from Obama above shows what I have been thinking a lot about, why is it that the developed countries of the world had it easy when it came to growing crops and sustaining our populations and Africa hasn’t. Well, there is obviously a lot to unpack there with the colonial past which I have touched upon but also the lack of investments and so nowadays we are seeing many more ideas springing up about to ensure that farmers are able to irrigate no matter the size of their plot of land and the costs.
As we know and have spoken about in lectures and readings, Africa has an enormous amount of arable land but only a slim amount, about 6% is actually irrigated (IFPRI, 2010). The main point is that there needs to be more of this land that is irrigated in order to ensure crop yields and less hunger. The underdevelopment of irrigation methods in Africa has had to do with the costs, and availability of the techniques since many farmers were not able to afford it or were not able to use the technologies as they were not familiar with them (Perry). This is why there has been an increase in some low-cost irrigation methods that would allow mostly smallholder farmers to irrigate their fields without worrying about costs. These techniques focus on manual irrigation in which water is lifted from the ground in order to be distributed among the plots of land. Three techniques I read about that sound promising are usually used for farmers with less than 0.5 ha of land (Perry). This doesn’t sound like much however is very common for subsistence farmers and as the urban population increases, there are more small lands than large ones for farming. Thus these techniques are called the rope and bucket which uses local materials and is the most inexpensive in which the flow rate of water is also the least (Perry). The second is the motorized pump which can cover more irrigated land since the flow rate of the water is faster however it is more expensive, and the third is the treadle pump which is the best for the human body as it doesn’t tire out the upper body. These three techniques described in the photo below are some that I researched as ways of irrigating a small plot however would ensure crop growth. Even if they seem very basic, they are all feasible ways of ensuring food security in Africa.
The need for investments in Africa’s irrigation is immediate and would create many benefits. From an FAO study, it has been determined that “nearly 60 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural population could benefit from water investment” (IFPRI, 2010). This is an extensive amount of people and would create such a revolution in terms of agriculture and food production in Africa! The fact that most of the land in Africa is not irrigated is already of concern because of the drastic divide between the developed world and developing, yet there is an even more drastic divide just between the North and South of the continent as I’ve touched upon in earlier blogs. The land that is irrigated in Africa, 6%, is mostly found in just five countries: Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Madagascar and South Africa (IFPRI, 2010). This shows that the farmers in these countries are in some ways luckier as they have better access to water resources. In addition to investments there needs to be a better distribution of water resources throughout the continent.
Another option to irrigation methods that would provide better crop yields is drip irrigation. I have spoken about this before however for this week I looked further into it and found a technique I was not familiar with which is drip irrigation with saline groundwater (Karlberg & Penning de Vries, 2004) Salt with crops is usually a bad mix, salinization is something that ruins crops as the water evaporates leaving the salt behind. However, with this new research, it has been proven that groundwater with saline in a drip irrigation technique would be beneficial to crops just like normal groundwater since in each droplet there would not be enough saline to damage the crops (Karlberg & Penning de Vries, 2004). Furthermore, with drip irrigation, there is much less evaporation, only about 7-10% compared to 30% with a “fully wetted field” which is also why there would be less saline mixed in with the crops(Karlberg & Penning de Vries, 2004). The benefit of this is that many farmers do not use some groundwater resources as there is too much saline in it making a waste of this resource that is already quite scarce and getting scarcer. With this new research, there would be a new way of irrigation.
This week's blog post had lots of information yet the central message I wanted to convey was that with better irrigation the future of water and food in Africa is bright. Experts and leaders have been able to present information that is simple and can be applied to create a better environment for farmers within the continent. Methods include manual techniques that are cheap, to more sustainable techniques that are malleable and work with diverse resources. Irrigation in Africa is diverse, some countries rely on it, some don’t and others are a mix, if there could be a balance or a medium reached where irrigation was implemented widely the benefits would be incredible.
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| A small scale farmer in Africa using the rope and bucket method discussed below (Researchgate) |
I am starting this week's blog with this quote as it shows what I will be examining and also restates how important the need for investment in Africa’s irrigation is to ensure a bright future. The quote from Obama above shows what I have been thinking a lot about, why is it that the developed countries of the world had it easy when it came to growing crops and sustaining our populations and Africa hasn’t. Well, there is obviously a lot to unpack there with the colonial past which I have touched upon but also the lack of investments and so nowadays we are seeing many more ideas springing up about to ensure that farmers are able to irrigate no matter the size of their plot of land and the costs.
As we know and have spoken about in lectures and readings, Africa has an enormous amount of arable land but only a slim amount, about 6% is actually irrigated (IFPRI, 2010). The main point is that there needs to be more of this land that is irrigated in order to ensure crop yields and less hunger. The underdevelopment of irrigation methods in Africa has had to do with the costs, and availability of the techniques since many farmers were not able to afford it or were not able to use the technologies as they were not familiar with them (Perry). This is why there has been an increase in some low-cost irrigation methods that would allow mostly smallholder farmers to irrigate their fields without worrying about costs. These techniques focus on manual irrigation in which water is lifted from the ground in order to be distributed among the plots of land. Three techniques I read about that sound promising are usually used for farmers with less than 0.5 ha of land (Perry). This doesn’t sound like much however is very common for subsistence farmers and as the urban population increases, there are more small lands than large ones for farming. Thus these techniques are called the rope and bucket which uses local materials and is the most inexpensive in which the flow rate of water is also the least (Perry). The second is the motorized pump which can cover more irrigated land since the flow rate of the water is faster however it is more expensive, and the third is the treadle pump which is the best for the human body as it doesn’t tire out the upper body. These three techniques described in the photo below are some that I researched as ways of irrigating a small plot however would ensure crop growth. Even if they seem very basic, they are all feasible ways of ensuring food security in Africa.
 |
| Retrieved from the FAO |
The need for investments in Africa’s irrigation is immediate and would create many benefits. From an FAO study, it has been determined that “nearly 60 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s rural population could benefit from water investment” (IFPRI, 2010). This is an extensive amount of people and would create such a revolution in terms of agriculture and food production in Africa! The fact that most of the land in Africa is not irrigated is already of concern because of the drastic divide between the developed world and developing, yet there is an even more drastic divide just between the North and South of the continent as I’ve touched upon in earlier blogs. The land that is irrigated in Africa, 6%, is mostly found in just five countries: Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Madagascar and South Africa (IFPRI, 2010). This shows that the farmers in these countries are in some ways luckier as they have better access to water resources. In addition to investments there needs to be a better distribution of water resources throughout the continent.
Another option to irrigation methods that would provide better crop yields is drip irrigation. I have spoken about this before however for this week I looked further into it and found a technique I was not familiar with which is drip irrigation with saline groundwater (Karlberg & Penning de Vries, 2004) Salt with crops is usually a bad mix, salinization is something that ruins crops as the water evaporates leaving the salt behind. However, with this new research, it has been proven that groundwater with saline in a drip irrigation technique would be beneficial to crops just like normal groundwater since in each droplet there would not be enough saline to damage the crops (Karlberg & Penning de Vries, 2004). Furthermore, with drip irrigation, there is much less evaporation, only about 7-10% compared to 30% with a “fully wetted field” which is also why there would be less saline mixed in with the crops(Karlberg & Penning de Vries, 2004). The benefit of this is that many farmers do not use some groundwater resources as there is too much saline in it making a waste of this resource that is already quite scarce and getting scarcer. With this new research, there would be a new way of irrigation.
 |
| A chart of the crops that respond well to drip irrigation with saline, retrieved from Karlberg & Penning's article |
This week's blog post had lots of information yet the central message I wanted to convey was that with better irrigation the future of water and food in Africa is bright. Experts and leaders have been able to present information that is simple and can be applied to create a better environment for farmers within the continent. Methods include manual techniques that are cheap, to more sustainable techniques that are malleable and work with diverse resources. Irrigation in Africa is diverse, some countries rely on it, some don’t and others are a mix, if there could be a balance or a medium reached where irrigation was implemented widely the benefits would be incredible.
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