Economic Opportunity Mailing List Archive

["Andy Bullock" <<address removed>>]

Further to John Dixon's helpful remarks concerning crop production 
in
non-irrigated areas, it is further important that 'global
generalisations' are not permitted to become insurmountable 
barriers
where they do not apply.

Two examples relating to water: groundwater. Yes, there are 
instances
where there is unsustainable use of groundwater in agricultural
production, and North Africa contains some classic examples. 
However,
over large parts of the African (and indeed Indian sub-) continent,
the renewable groundwater recharge over large parts of the 
Basement
Complex is significantly in excess of the capacity of existing
technologies to exploit it. This is the kind of distributed,
accessible resource that is critical to small-scale agricultural
production. Yes, there are some difficulties and tapping fracture
zones is key, and the UK has a raft of excellent experise in this 
area
in different organisations.

Second: there are probably one million small wetland systems in 
the
headwaters of African rivers, constituting approx one third of the
total irrigable area of Africa. Many countries have a significant
number throughout the tropics and sub-tropics. Hitherto, global
lobbies have prevailed that have argued that such wetlands need to 
be
conserved because of their significant environmental functions,
particularly in relation to downstream river flows. However, the
evidence base is that the majority of wetlands perform 
environmental
functions that are directly contrary to the conservation argument.

Nobody is going to argue against the significant conservation values
of the important significant wetland systems of the world, but the
very many small African wetlands are, like groundwater, a
widely-distributed and accessible resource. At least one of the
perceived barriers to their use exists no longer.

Together with the kinds of runoff farming and rainwater harvesting
methods that John mentions, there are other means to capitalise 
upon
soil moisture. Critically, this is all water that is not taken into
account when water scarcity assessments are undertaken (as that is
based onlyon flow in rivers). Here we are talkign about water that
would generally evaporate or transpire before it reached river systems
anyway under natural vegetation.

What is very concerning with DFID is that its recent Water Action Plan
sets objectives in meeting water supply and sanitation targets against
agricultural development - as if it is either one or the other.  DFID
needs to get agricultural water more sensibly into its Water Action
Plan than it has done up to now.

Water supply and sanitation and food security should not be presented
as being in conflict over water in Africa. Large-scale irrigation of
mainly-redundant 'empire crops' is another matter.

Andy Bullock




----- Original Message -----
From: "Dixon, John (AGSF)" <<address removed>>
To: <<address removed>>
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 10:46 AM
Subject: FW: Water for food


>
> Andy Bullock's remarks about water and food security in Africa
> prompt the following observations about water and food in Africa
>
> The debate on water for food and agriculture is far too often
> confined to the availability and efficiency of irrigation. However,
> there is
increasing
> evidence of very substantial food production dividends through
> better management of water in non-irrigated areas, especially in
> Africa. There is considerable evidence that runoff farming and other
> forms of rainwater harvesting not only increase yields in many
> instances, but also minimise yield reductions in dry years and
> enable, in some areas, permit diversification to higher value crops.
> There is a long tradition of water harvesting in the Middle East and
> South Asia, and recent field experience
in
> Africa suggests a substantial potential to increase food production
> and
farm
> incomes through water harvesting in many farming systems of the
> continent.
>
> John Dixon
> Senior Officer/Farming Systems, FAO
> (personal views)
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