Economic Opportunity Mailing List Archive

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

In the early phase of this forum, there was good discussion on small-scale 
production, and the scope for improving water control and household food 
security. With the potential of rainwater and catchment water harvesting, soil 
moisture, groundwater, and productive wetland systems, (notwithstanding soil 
fertility problems), the issues of water availability and rights of access to 
water are a lesser significant constraint than posed in the original 
'think-piece'. 

I suggest that a second significant strand from a natural resource perspective 
has to be the rehabilitation and modernization of extisting irrigation schemes. 
The design life of an irrigation scheme is typically 30-50 years, and most 
large irrigation schemes are now well-past their sell-by date. As much as 50% 
of the existing irrigated area in Africa requires rehabilitation and 
modernization. Existing schemes are, anyway, generally the prime sites. These 
are again an important focus because a) rights to use water in these schemes 
are already in place, b) there are already integral in water management plans, 
c) much of the large-scale storage (dam) and conveyance infrastructure has 
already been invested in. So, again (like small-scale production) the water 
availability and rights constraints are less significant here than for new 
irrigation works.

Rehabilitation and modernization brings new opportunities for realignment - and 
let us remember that the currently irrigated area of Africa is contributing 
less than 4% of the calorific intake needs of the current African population. 
Large amounts of water, but wrong outcomes! Rehabilitation of irrigation is 
required fundamentally in certain countries to meet national minimum 
nutritional and calorific intakes.

Irrigation rehab/modernization lies in the moddle of the intervention-outcome 
logic. Small-scale agriculture is going to contribute most (compared with other 
outcomes) to household poverty  (nutrition, education, health, $ income etc). 
At the other end of the spectrum, NEW irrigation is going to have to be 
justified mostly by its contribution to economic growth (the new investment 
needs of new dam storage, O&M, competing access to water etc) but contributing 
little to poverty reduction amongst large numbers of people - but hopefully 
economic growth that still brings benefit within the African countries.

The middle area of rehab/modernization of irrigation will almost certainly have 
to contribute to both spectrums of the outcome range.

Andy Bullock