Water, Food and Development in Africa

This blog is a continuation of last week's blog. Here I will discuss how GM crops are currently being used and the developments occurring. Current GM crop use in Africa As mentioned last week, access to GM crops is still unequal. This has meant that currently, South Africa is the only African country commercially growing GM crops.  The GM crops grown are maize, cotton and soya.  However, there are several other countries trialling this as well, namely Egypt, Tanzania and Kenya. Despite this, there are still many concerned about the impact these crops have, resulting in some countries, like Algeria and Sudan, imposing bans on them. As described previously in the context of Zambia, bans can have detrimental effects, such as causing  food shortages due to the rejection of aid.  This shows the differing opinions that exist within the continent.  GM crops have the potential to ensure food security within the region. However. accessibility remains a key issue. High co...

Since the commercialisation of Genetically Modified crops over 25 years ago, usage has dramatically increased. This post will aim to analyse how GM crops can be used to promote food security, while also looking at its potential challenges. Modifications, such as making crops drought resistant, aim to help achieve this goal.  Agricultural activities are the largest consumers of freshwater in the world. It currently accounts for roughly 70% of global freshwater usage. This figure is expected to rise by 60% by 2025. As such, attempts to reduce the industry's water consumption are essential. When you add in the fact climate change is increasing the risk of extreme weather and shifting climatic patterns, the need to increase water security becomes even more important. Sub-Saharan Africa has been drastically impacted by climate change (particularly during El Niño events), meaning climatic variability has increased dramatically. Droughts are more common, intense and far reaching than pre...

Last week I focused on the traditional small-scale irrigation methods used by farmers. This week my blog will seek to explore how larger-scale methods have been adopted (perhaps not as successfully as first thought). Sub-Saharan Africa is heavily reliant on agriculture. It is an important employer, providing jobs to 60% of its residents and accounting for a total of 23% of the region's GDP.  Africa is unique in the sense that over 90% of its food production is dependent on rainfall.  This means that droughts here are likely to result in famines. As climate change becomes more extreme, the frequency and magnitude of such droughts in the tropics increases. Because of this, many NGOs and Western development agencies have pushed for the construction of large-scale irrigation techniques in a trend known as the 'New Green Revolution' The World Bank is one agency that has promoted this via neo-colonialist policies that tried to influence African development following independence...

Last week we examined Africa's groundwater potential and how this could ensure water and food security via non-renewable systems. This week the focus will be on smaller-scale renewable extraction methods. Farmer-led irrigation has historically allowed for groundwater usage to occur without depleting the source. This development can be defined as a way in which farmer's take on a more important role when improving their agricultural water usage. This is done via changes in technology use, investment patterns, governance of water and land, and knowledge production. These processes normally occur informally all-over sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the informality of these processes, most farmer-led irrigation is not included in the official figures stating how much of Africa's agriculture is irrigated. This figure is currently 6% , but if these methods were included, it would be significantly higher. I will discuss the different example of farmer-led irrigation below. Shallow Grou...

Groundwater development has proved integral in fuelling agricultural growth all over the Global South, most notably Asia.  As a result, groundwater in South Asia now supplies over half of the irrigation supplies. Unfortunately, Sub-Saharan Africa missed this Groundwater Revolution. However, recently there has been an increase in farmer-led irrigation methods utilising groundwater. This shows that perhaps the tide is turning. Thus, I will seek to show Africa's groundwater extraction potential and how this could help its agriculture. Figure 1: Map showing Africa's groundwater potential Africa sits upon a vast water reserve. Sub-Saharan Africa has such a large reserve that it is estimated it has over 3 times more groundwater availability per capita than China and almost 6 times more than India. This groundwater source is quantified as being roughly 0.66 million km ³.  To show the magnitude of this figure, lets compare it to these outputs below: - Average annual rainfall is estim...

  Before starting to look at any issues or solutions made by people in the African Water and Food discourse, I think it is imperative that we consider the dehumanisation that has systematically occurred to the citizens of this continent by the hand of the white oppressor .  Africa has perpetually suffered from the homogenisation of its unique cultures and traditions to a one-size-fits-all image that adheres to the western perception of what this continent should look like. Romanticised or demonised , the way in which it is presented aims to create an idea that it  is to be pitied and in dire need of aid. Of course, this aid will undoubtably come from the inevitable ‘heroic’ white saviour that is brave enough to venture into its ‘undeveloped savageness’ . My introductory blog aimed to discard these unsavoury images of Africa. It is therefore critical to understand that it is not a place to be pitied, but instead treated as any other continent. There is no desire from its c...