Water and Food in Africa

Dams are barriers that can stop or restrict the flow of water. This is a particularly useful way for areas facing a period of low rainfall to store water and then release from the reservoir when needed (Perry, 2001).  The Bakolori Dam is a 5.5 km long dam on the River Sokoto of northwest Nigeria. Originally, the dam aimed to control the excessive flooding that would take place in the Lower Rima flood plain below Sokoto. A small irrigation scheme at Bakolori of 12,000 ha was a secondary interest though the dam soon stored enough water to irrigate 30,000 ha of land, as part of the Bakolori Agricultural Project (Adams, 1985) . The dam was particularly significant for the Sokoto state as the drylands would remain dry for nine months, and the river was in spate for a short, rainy season. It would make sense for a dam to capture this water so it could be used efficiently throughout the long dry season, for irrigation (Adams, 2021) .   The case of the Bakolori Dam, however, expo...

Drip irrigation is another strategy that works by applying water directly to the soil surface or the root zone of plants. It is a water efficient technology as it reduces water consumption whilst increasing crop yields (Jobbins et al, 2015) . This compares to conventional flood irrigation. Comparatively, drip irrigation reduces water loss by evaporation and distribution. Drip irrigation uses 30-50% less water and achieves up to 95% irrigation efficiency (Narayanmoorthy, 2004) . Figures suggest that drip irrigation would particularly be beneficial for Moroccan farmers.  Two drip irrigation projects were implemented for farmers surrounding the Saïs basin. A farmer on the Bitit pilot project found that water supply was so efficient from the drip irrigation system, that his single owned hectare had to only be irrigated every two and a half days instead of the usual five days. Interviews with farmers showed 83% had a clear preference for drip irrigation as a response to reduced water su...

An adaptation technique to divert away from groundwater is desalination. This involves the conversion of seawater to freshwater. Firstly, the seawater is treated to remove any impurities and then is filtered through  reverse osmosis . The brine is diluted and returned to sea, whilst the freshwater goes through additional processes of remineralisation and chlorination to then be stored in tanks and distributed for consumption.  The use of desalination in Morocco is a remedy that many political and economic actors have decided to turn to, following the overexploitation of groundwater that was being used to irrigate thousands of hectares of plantations and led to an annual deficit of 60 million m3 of water (Takouleu, 2018) . An irrigation project using desalinated seawater in the Chtouka zone in the Souss Massa region was pushed forwards by the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture. The project plant has a production capacity of 111,000 m3 per day and by 2035, this will increase to 16...

The next few blog posts will be situated in Morocco: a country which is highly relevant when it comes to the issues of water and food scarcity.  The challenge that Morocco faces  Morocco is a water scarce country that has a largely agricultural based economy (Jobbins et al, 2015) . The Souss-Massa region in particular is important for the socioeconomic development of the kingdom due to the expansion of the agricultural sector there (Hirich et al, 2015). In recent years already, the country has been experiencing frequent and intense droughts. Modelling shows that even in the most optimistic emission scenarios, there will be a 40% reduction in precipitation in the Chtouka Aït Baha province alone and pessimistic models show a reduction of more than 80% (Seif-Ennasr et al, 2016) . These figures are hugely problematic as a reduction in precipitation will lead to widespread water shortage that is so vital for Morocco’s large agricultural-based economy. The Chtouka Aït Baha provin...