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Introduction to Water and Food in Africa

 Hello! Welcome to my blog on water and food in Africa. Over the next few weeks, I will be updating this blog on the potential ways that the water and food shortage in Africa can be addressed. 


What is water scarcity? 

There are multiple indicators used to define water scarcity, though they tend to make generalisations and omit important details. Falkenmark (1989) outlines water scarcity using the water stress index (WSI). This states that a country becomes water stressed when there is less than 1,700m3 of renewable water available per capita per year. The WSI relies on mean annual river runoff (MARR) as a measure of renewable water which conceals variations in intra and inter annual freshwater availability and fails to include greenwater. It also assumes that there is a relationship between access to safe water and per capita freshwater availability. Figure 1 shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between the two; Egypt and Morocco appear as water stressed according to Falkenmark’s WSI yet there is 90% accessibility to safe water (Chenoweth, 2008). 


Figure 1: Graph showing the relationship between water availability and access to safe water (Damkjaer & Taylor, 2017) 

Instead, it should be appreciated that access to water is influenced by a complex interplay of different factors that go beyond just a reductionist, physical explanation. Furthermore, the relationship between food and water should also be considered. 

Why water and food? 

Water scarcity is better related to food insecurity. Agriculture is the largest user of water amongst other human activities. For irrigation, water withdrawals are around 70% of total human uses of renewable water resources, amounting to around 2630gm3/year out of 3815gm3/year (Fischer et al, 2007). Therefore, managing water is key to ensuring that people have access to food to sustain their livelihoods. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals two and six highlight the importance of this, as they mention the ‘availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all,’ and aim to ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture globally by 2030’ (UN, 2015). 

Why Africa? 

Many African countries will experience a worsening food crisis due to climate change. Sub Saharan Africa is the only major region where food production has declined over the last thirty years (Giordano, 2006). Climate change will ultimately lead to fewer and heavier rainfall events that will lower crop yields. In Andhra Pradesh, India, crop yields were lower in 1981 at 901 kg/ha when there were more extreme rainfall events compared to 1975 (1360 kg/ha), where rainfall was consistent throughout the year (Challinor et al, 2006) even though the total rainfall was practically the same for both years. This shows how climate change will exacerbate the already existing food crisis as extreme rainfall events also become more common in Africa. 

This is a particular issue for African countries as a major green revolution has yet to take place (Giordano, 2006), where efficient systems such as drip irrigation could help to reduce water expenses by approximately a half and increase crop productivity to help tackle the food crisis. There is also huge potential for groundwater to lift people out of poverty and make food grain prices cheaper. The most effective way to alleviate poverty and achieve food security is to increase agricultural efficiency through the expansion and intensification of irrigated agriculture Carruthers et al (1997). 

A final important note

As I wrap up this blog post, I would like to stress the importance of self-observation when writing about Africa. I have been guilty of making generalisations for a continent and pasting images needlessly onto previous projects where they were not needed. Wainana’s (2019) article has prompted me to observe my positionality. 

With that being said, I hope you have enjoyed my first blog post and learn more on water and food in Africa with me! 

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