Water and Food in Africa

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Three ways of addressing soil degradation

- December 17, 2020

This week I will discuss three different soil recovery techniques that African farmers can implement putting the data findings of the iSDAsoil map into practice. Investing in practices that improve soil quality will in turn increase the water productivity of crops and yields (Erkossa, 2010) . Liquid Nano Clay (LNC) Desertification vulnerability of Africa (Reich et al., 2001 ) Desert Control , have created an innovative technique of LNC, a compound mixture of clay and water, to regenerate degraded soil which have fallen victim to desertification. Desertification is major concern in Africa affecting 46% of the continent ( Reich et al., 2001 ). Using clay to improve soil fertility is not a new idea however conventional practices are labour-intensive and disrupts sequestered carbon and the subterrestrial ecosystems maintaining soil structure ( Govaerts et al., 2009 ). The consistency of LNC means it can be sprayed onto arid soils and percolate down the soil profile and bind to sand g

A new and improved soil map for Africa

- December 11, 2020

Recently I came across a news article about a new digital soil map of Africa which inspired me to do some online research and would love to share with you what I discovered for this week’s blog. The iSDAsoil map gives soil variable data at a ‘ farm-level’ 30m resolution for all potential agricultural land across Africa. This is the first time the soils of an entire continent have been studied at this level of detail. The 30m resolution means smallholder farmers across Africa now have access to specific, field-level information. iSDA claim the maps increase in resolution from other previously available datasets also increases the accuracy of the data as it more closely reflects the real variation in soils on the ground instead of averaging over large areas. The maps were created using machine learning to predict soil properties for ~24 billion locations across Africa which were standardised using over 100,000 soil samples from 15 datasets across Africa. This was then combined

Desalination for irrigation

- December 03, 2020

In this blog I briefly discuss a story that caught my attention from Somaliland using desalination . I discuss the benefits of the project and whether it is a feasible response for African nations. The main drawback for the desalination of seawater is its high-cost and so is often regarded too costly for use in growing crops. However, Seawater Greenhouse is a start-up disputing this claim. The video below demonstrates how they use pan and fan technology in Somaliland to create a cool humid microclimate inside greenhouses to grow a variety of crops including lettuces and tomatoes. The microclimate created reduces the water uptake of crops up to ten to one hundred-fold dependent on numerous variables. This project successfully utilises desalinated water for irrigation due to the reduced water uptake. Current small areas of irrigated land in Africa ( FAO, 2005 ) This project is particularly interesting as it is a potential way of increasing the viable agricultural land area in ar

Slashing UK's foreign aid: what this means for the WaSH sector

- November 29, 2020

For this blog, I want to take a quick break from talking about contemporary water and agricultural issues in Africa, as water is also fundamental for sanitation and health. Here I will discuss a recent change in UK legislation which upset and drove me to research the impact it will have on Africa's WaSH sector. This month as part of the annual spending review, the UK government has reduced its aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) . The news of overseas aid being cut by a third frustrated many and even led to the Foreign Office minister, Baroness Sugg, resigning . After hearing this news, I was shocked that during a global pandemic the government has decided to reduce aid spending which could be utilised to help provide much-needed basic handwashing facilities that 3 billion people worldwide lack to help mitigate against the spread of COVID-19 (UN, 2020) . Official Development Assistance (ODA) can be given as bilateral aid where direct assistance is gi

Agroforestry: a viable alternative to modern agricultural practices?

- November 14, 2020

For this week’s blog I discuss how implementing agroforestry across Africa could alleviate many issues the agricultural sector faces. Globally, conventional agriculture is highly reliant on synthetic fertilisers. This is a practice increasingly espoused as the ‘best’ solution to increase yields across Africa. Undeniably, the use of synthetic fertilizer has greatly increased agricultural production over the past century, but that has come with a serious cost to the environment. This made me question if there are alternative practices that could minimise the environmental damage of conventional agriculture and improve Africa’s food security? Practices which are not reliant on techno-scientific fixes, such as GMOs or synthetic fertilizers (which already price out most smallholder farmers)? Agroforestry practices may be the answer I am looking for! What is agroforestry and how does it work? Simply put, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) defines agroforestry as ‘agriculture

Are GM crops a solution to increasing droughts across Africa?

- November 06, 2020

In this blog post I discuss the potential use and challenges of genetically modified crops (GMOs), with a focus on drought-tolerant varieties. With the agricultural industry being the world’s largest consumer of freshwater (~70% of global freshwater use) and demand projected to increase by 60% over the next 5 years, it is now more important than ever that water conservation practices and policies are implemented across all agriculture spaces ( Boretti and Rosa, 2019 ). This need is exacerbated by the rising threat of extreme weather events and shifts in climatic patterns. In consequence, droughts across Africa have become more frequent, intense and widespread over the last 50 years and are likely to worsen in the future (Masih et al., 2014) . This will inevitably have a widespread impact on agriculture with over 95% of farms in sub-Saharan Africa relying on rain-fed agriculture. Drought conditions in 2010 and 2011 led to a decrease in cereal production and significant livestock mort

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