This paper discusses the current and future conditions that affect water resources and the constraints of water (agricultural) management in sub-Saharan Africa and suggests remedial measures to be considered by policy makers. The pressure on the quantity and quality of water resources is rising in sub-Saharan Africa due to the increased demand of water for agriculture and other purposes as a result of increase in population and food demand. The availability of water is also under threat from changing climate and as a result, water scarcity is expected in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, the availability of water for agriculture is expected to further shrink due to the increasing demand of water for other purposes like industry, manufacturing and environmental requirement. The current poor efficiency rate of irrigation systems and massive expansion of irrigated area is expected to further exacerbate the water scarcity. Hence, a water management policy focused on maximization of water use efficiency and water productivity should be prioritized in order to meet the food demand of the growing population and cope with water scarcity problems. Engineering and management intervention integrated with strong society awareness and participation is considered very crucial in enhancing water use efficiency and crop water productivity.
World population has risen steadily from a total of 2.5 billion in 1950, to 7.4 billion in 2015 [
This population growth would inevitably pose additional demand for food [
In sub-Saharan Africa, food consumption of cereals such as maize, millet, sorghum, and teff (in Ethiopia) is the mainstay of diets [
Country | Production (kg/person/year) | Consumption (Kg/person/Year) | Deficit | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | 2002 | 2007 | 1997 | 2002 | 2007 | 1997 | 2002 | 2007 | |
Angola | 32 | 41 | 45 | 59.9 | 72.3 | 81.0 | −27.9 | −31.3 | −36.0 |
Benin | 130 | 136 | 130 | 108.0 | 104.0 | 116.1 | 22.0 | 32.0 | 13.9 |
Botswana | 42 | 16 | 18 | 123.7 | 109.5 | 109.5 | −81.7 | −93.5 | −91.5 |
Burkina Faso | 215 | 233 | 242 | 223.7 | 219.7 | 233.6 | −8.7 | 13.3 | 8.4 |
Burundi | 43 | 37 | 35 | 30.3 | 28.8 | 35.8 | 12.7 | 8.2 | −0.8 |
Cameroon | 86 | 84 | 95 | 89.4 | 96.7 | 108.8 | −3.4 | −12.7 | −13.8 |
CAR | 35 | 45 | 53 | 41.6 | 48.9 | 57.3 | −6.6 | −3.9 | −4.3 |
Chad | 121 | 128 | 181 | 108.8 | 118.3 | 144.5 | 12.2 | 9.7 | 36.5 |
Congo | 4 | 5 | 6 | 44.2 | 75.2 | 77.0 | −40.2 | −70.2 | −71.0 |
Comoros | 24 | 21 | 21 | 74.5 | 74.5 | 75.2 | −50.5 | −53.5 | −54.2 |
DRC | 30 | 27 | 23 | 34.7 | 32.9 | 39.8 | −4.7 | −5.9 | −16.8 |
Djibouti | 0 | 0 | 0 | 111.3 | 125.9 | 138.7 | −111.3 | −125.9 | −138.7 |
Eritrea | 31 | 31 | 74 | 127.8 | 120.8 | 134.0 | −96.8 | −89.8 | −60.0 |
Ethiopia | 145 | 132 | 168 | 123.0 | 138.3 | 142.7 | 22.0 | −6.3 | 25.3 |
Gabon | 25 | 20 | 23 | 94.2 | 101.8 | 109.5 | −69.2 | −81.8 | −86.5 |
Gambia | 85 | 120 | 117 | 139.8 | 142.7 | 147.5 | −54.8 | −22.7 | −30.5 |
Ghana | 95 | 87 | 81 | 82.5 | 87.6 | 97.5 | 12.5 | −0.6 | −16.5 |
Guinea | 143 | 167 | 212 | 127.4 | 127.0 | 127.0 | 15.6 | 40.0 | 85.0 |
Kenya | 101 | 93 | 100 | 120.1 | 117.5 | 120.5 | −19.1 | −24.5 | −20.5 |
Lesotho | 103 | 97 | 52 | 216.8 | 221.9 | 227.4 | −113.8 | −124.9 | −175.4 |
Liberia | 34 | 33 | 35 | 97.8 | 89.1 | 97.5 | −63.8 | −56.1 | −62.5 |
Madagascar | 137 | 121 | 145 | 111.7 | 117.9 | 129.6 | 25.3 | 3.1 | 15.4 |
Malawi | 164 | 167 | 177 | 147.8 | 142.4 | 143.1 | 16.2 | 24.7 | 33.9 |
Mali | 205 | 205 | 274 | 181.0 | 187.6 | 199.7 | 24.0 | 17.4 | 74.3 |
Mauritania | 78 | 43 | 50 | 164.3 | 159.5 | 169.0 | −86.3 | −116.5 | −119.0 |
Mauritius | 0 | 0 | 1 | 152.2 | 155.1 | 161.0 | −152.2 | −155.1 | −160.0 |
Mozambique | 79 | 76 | 66 | 91.6 | 92.7 | 101.5 | −12.6 | −16.7 | −35.5 |
Niger | 207 | 247 | 281 | 200.0 | 201.1 | 197.5 | 7.0 | 45.9 | 83.5 |
Nigeria | 185 | 156 | 181 | 136.9 | 133.6 | 145.6 | 48.1 | 22.4 | 35.4 |
Rwanda | 31 | 33 | 39 | 33.9 | 32.1 | 43.4 | −2.9 | 0.9 | −4.4 |
Senegal | 100 | 87 | 86 | 154.0 | 152.6 | 164.3 | −54.0 | −65.6 | −78.3 |
Sierra Leone | 78 | 54 | 136 | 107.3 | 113.2 | 112.1 | −29.3 | −59.2 | 23.9 |
Sudan | 134 | 115 | 157 | 138.3 | 123.0 | 130.7 | −4.3 | −8.0 | 26.3 |
Swaziland | 138 | 81 | 50 | 133.6 | 124.1 | 127.8 | 4.4 | −43.1 | −77.8 |
Tanzania | 132 | 130 | 133 | 106.2 | 106.9 | 104.0 | 25.8 | 23.1 | 29.0 |
Togo | 142 | 141 | 137 | 116.1 | 118.6 | 123.7 | 25.9 | 22.4 | 13.3 |
Uganda | 80 | 88 | 84 | 59.5 | 58.8 | 63.5 | 20.5 | 29.2 | 20.5 |
Zambia | 127 | 90 | 116 | 157.3 | 142.0 | 136.9 | −30.3 | −52.0 | −20.9 |
Zimbabwe | 192 | 141 | 120 | 148.6 | 144.5 | 157.0 | 43.4 | −3.5 | −37.0 |
South Africa | 272 | 280 | 227 | 178.5 | 186.2 | 186.9 | 93.5 | 93.9 | 40.1 |
Namibia | 68 | 59 | 64 | 130.7 | 132.1 | 131.4 | −62.7 | −73.1 | −67.4 |
Côte d’Ivoire | 70 | 62 | 58 | 96.0 | 89.4 | 93.4 | −26.0 | −27.4 | −35.4 |
Guinea-Bissau | 111 | 99 | 113 | 139.4 | 146.7 | 146.7 | −28.4 | −47.7 | −33.7 |
of the sub-Saharan Africa countries. The gap between production and consumption would be more pronounced if other food groups, like starchy roots, vegetables, meat, egg, and others, are considered. To fill this gap and ensure food security dramatic increase in agricultural production is inevitable.
Approximately 40% of the world’s food comes from 17% of the world’s cropland that is irrigated which consumes more than two-third of the world’s developed water supplies [
In sub-Saharan Africa, the water use efficiency estimated for the year 2005/07 and projected for the year 2050 is 22 and 25 percent respectively, which is by far less than the world average which is 44 and 46 percent respectively [
From
Not surprisingly, the water resources of some countries had already been declined and changed from no stress to stress and scarcity levels. For instance, in 2007, Comoros, Nigeria and Uganda were under no stress condition. However, in 2012 and 2014, their water resource was declined and changed to the stress category. Similarly,
Country | Water resources (m3/per/yr) | ||
---|---|---|---|
2007 | 2012 | 2014 | |
Djibouti | 375.50 | 348.80 | 339 |
Kenya | 813.20 | 711.00 | 674 |
Burkina Faso | 948.40 | 820.20 | 775 |
South Africa | 1035.00 | 980.20 | 966 |
Malawi | 1260.00 | 1086.00 | 1027 |
Sudan | No data | 1016.00 | 975 |
Rwanda | 1340.00 | 1161.00 | 1099 |
Eritrea | 1404.00 | 1193.00 | 1119 |
Burundi | 1506.00 | 1273.00 | 1196 |
Ethiopia | 1517.00 | 1330.00 | 1264 |
Lesotho | 1545.00 | 1473.00 | 1440 |
Zimbabwe | 1570.00 | 1457.00 | 1370 |
Somalia | 1650.00 | 1442.00 | 1360 |
Comoros | 1896.00 | 1671.00 | 1596.00 |
Nigeria | 1944.00 | 1695.00 | 1603.00 |
Uganda | 1956.00 | 1654.00 | 1547.00 |
South Africa’s water resources status was changed from stress category in 2007 to scarcity category in 2014. Nevertheless, the attention given to water management in sub-Saharan Africa is still inadequate. As a result, over exploitation of water resources by different sectors is shadowing the efforts made to ensure sustainable water use in the region. Considering the global figure, withdrawal of water by about a quarter of the irrigated systems is above the regeneration rate [
Many sub-Saharan Africa countries must develop more than twice the amount of water they currently use to meet reasonable future requirements [
Sub-Saharan Africa countries, often characterized with low yield levels and large on-farm water losses resulting in poor water use efficiencies, have a promising potential for improvements in water productivity through introduction of agronomic or engineering measures [
Drip irrigation’s combination of water savings and yield increases typically produces at least a doubling of water productivity, yield per unit water, and makes it a leading technology in the global challenge of boosting crop production in the face of serious water constraints [
Despite the higher potential for smallholder drip irrigation and other small scale irrigation technologies as supplementary irrigation for millions of people and to achieve household food security, the use of the technology has hardly begun in many sub-Saharan Africa countries. With proper marketing and proper agronomic and technical support low cost irrigation technologies can be adopted by smallholder farmers to change family lifestyles, increase people’s incomes, create employment and go a long way towards food security and improved nutrition [
Water pricing has become a key issue in both the developed and developing world. It is designed taking into account various objectives which are oftentimes more and more difficult to achieve due to environmental constraints, increased water demand, climate change and economic crisis which impacts all incomes (households, farmers, industries). The three main objectives of water pricing are balancing water budget, allowing water access, and inciting users to save water [
Although, water pricing has long been practiced in some developed countries, it has been rarely or hardly implemented in sub Saharan Africa. The question here would be “how to introduce water pricing for the first time in an area where water has been accessed for free?” and “on what basis to effect the pricing?”. In principle, there are multiple pricing patterns for irrigation water. The most common pricing systems are based on volume, area, electricity consumption (for groundwater based irrigation), type of irrigation or crop and block rate pricing structure [
Water pricing alone will not always be a sufficient incentive for users to enhance water saving and improve irrigation performance [
Water scarcity is becoming severe and the availability of water for agriculture is dwindling due to increasing population and food demand, changing climate, expansion of industries and manufacturing. In order to sustain their economy and feed their population, sub-Saharan Africa countries should implement sound, feasible and implementable water management policy that can help in obtaining more production from the existing resources, land and water, through maximization of water use efficiency and crop water productivity. It is, thus, wise to develop a set of engineering and management interventions such as water-saving techniques, improved irrigation management, supplemental or precision irrigation, water pricing and better agronomy. Before implementation, however, the intervention measure should be tested through independent and participatory research. Above all, farmers, government and non-governmental organizations should cautiously evaluate the feasibility of the intervention measures and proper awareness should be given to the farming community.
Kbrom Ambachew Gebrehiwot,Mehari Gidey Gebrewahid, (2016) The Need for Agricultural Water Management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Water Resource and Protection,08,835-843. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2016.89068