In Conclusion...

Throughout this blog, I have been able to research countless aspects of the African agricultural system and how it ties to food. There have been many main takeaways from this blog which I was able to thoroughly understand through the use of the case study posts. The overarching themes I have seen when researching water and food in Africa is that 1) smallholder farms have a better chance of making the future of food in Africa more sustainable 2) most places rely on rainfall for irrigation thus there needs to be better water management techniques to distribute and have access to water supplies 3) there is a need to have better institutions and mechanisms in place to allow Africa to modernize and expand in growth with the use of its agricultural sector.

Going through the research it is evident that the food crisis in Africa has been on the minds of developed and developing countries governments for a while. Africa hasn’t been through the Green Revolution, which we spoke about in lectures, like the Western world or Asia has. There is a heavy need to invest in this continent in order to meet the goals we have set out for ourselves, like the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The investments are needed in many sectors of the African economy starting with infrastructure as that would allow better transportation of goods and water.

The fact that Africa already has a pattern of small scale farming is convenient as small scale farming and irrigation is much more sustainable than large scale farms like feedlots or industry farms which use up many more resources. These small scale farms are extremely important to the rest of the African continent and we can not let them disappear with resource degradation techniques taking place or mal intended investments.

Finally, it is evident that the institutions in Africa are not able to meet the demands given by people or OECD countries. In this case, the institutions need to be revamped to include better water management techniques and adopt new technologies that would propel these countries more into the future. This blog has allowed me to explore the ways water has been used for irrigation in the past and the present, what techniques for agriculture have been widely adopted and why water and food is such an essential topic for Africa today.

Here is a video from National Geographic which talks about the future of African Agriculture which I felt was a great way of ending my blog


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