Renewable Groundwater systems: Small-Scale Irrigation

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 Groundwater Pumping

Last week we established how prevalent groundwater is in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many regions have water basins with relatively wetter valley bottoms than other basins in the surrounding areas. These can therefore be exploited without much hassle. This is known as shallow groundwater pumping. The use of these pumps for irrigation in Nigeria has been championed by the World Bank, with them financing projects to promote this since the 1980s. This has resulted in there being an increase of 114,000 ha of irrigated land. Malawi has had similar farmer-led development initiatives occurring. Here they have used cheap motorised pumps to pump out the shallow groundwater. This has increased the area of irrigated farmland without the need of Western intervention, proving that Western intervention is unnecessary and counterproductive.

Figure 1: Diagram showing how Shallow groundwater Pumping occurs.

Furrow Irrigation in Mountainous Terrain

This type of farmer-led irrigation occurs most commonly in South and East Africa. The South African government encouraged its use via the provision of subsidies. The aim is to increase food production, thus ensuring food security. It involves diverting water from the springs and stream on the mountains using a system of connected furrows that have been dug by hand. This allows irrigation to occur, but only supplies small quantities. It is considered a method of irrigation as it involves water being artificially applied to cultivated, farming land. The use of this type of furrow irrigation was so commonplace amongst Black South African farmers as more 'modern' irrigation schemes were reserved solely for the use of white farmers. The small size of these plots leads to why the term 'small holder irrigation scheme' can be understood to meaning an irrigation scheme occurring on land owned by Black farmers. These clear racialised differences are a result of the abhorrent colonial history plaguing South Africa. Continuous suppression of the rights of Black South African's affected all aspects of their lives- even irrigation. These traditional methods were therefore maintained due to inequitable access to larger scale irrigation schemes. 

However, the preservation of this technique can be considered beneficial in terms of sustainability. Due to its small-scale nature, it does not cause any damage to water levels, thus making it renewable. 

Open Water Body Irrigation using Petrol Pumps

There has been a sharp increase in the use of this abstraction technique. Many small-hold farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa utilise these motorised pumps to abstract water for irrigation. It provides enough water to facilitate an intensive production of agriculture. The popularity of this method amongst farmers has meant that many group money together to purchase a communal pump that can be shared. This allows for irrigation to occur without the need for Western intervention- which can only be positive. The use of this renewable method has been well documented in multiple countries, including Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya. In Western Kenya, use of this pump irrigation has provided an alternative to deal with declining fishing industries already present on Lake Victoria. In turn, this offers the youth an economic opportunity, helping to keep them here and not have them migrate to more economically prosperous urban areas.

Urban Irrigation

All the methods discussed above focus more on rural irrigation methods. However, there has also been an increase in the use of small-scale urban irrigation. Although not as common, urban farming has grown in popularity to deal with the increased demand for fresh fruit and veg. These urban farmers make use of  waste water to facilitate the growing demand. Cities such as Accra in Ghana have benefitted from this as it provides them a way to get around the sparse rainfall they experience. In an attempt to meet the growing food demand, a national programme called 'Operation Feed Yourself' was launched in 1972. This aimed to encourage people to participate in food production due to the economic crisis that occurred in the 70s following independence from the UK. The operation was successful in a sense, as it increased land use for agriculture, thus helping promote food security. I have inserted a video below showing how 'Operation Feed Yourself' promoted land cultivation.

However, this method of irrigation is not without its problems. The use of waste water could render the technique obsolete. Presence of bacteria such as E. coli in the water in common. This can prove to be detriment to the health of not only those who eat produce grown with this water, but also to those coming into contact with the water during irrigation.

Concluding Thoughts

As you can see, small-scale farmer-led irrigation systems have their positives. However, issues in co-ordination between farmers have resulted in water supply insufficiencies downstream of established irrigated areas. This could easily be resolved via investment of time and training for farmers to encourage co-operation. There are still those that advocate the use of more large-scale methods. Next week I will look at some of these and hopefully aim to explain why these neo-colonialist attempts at 'development' are counterproductive not only to locals, but to environmental sustainability as well.