Water and Food in Africa

To begin my blog, I wanted to set the scene and  provide a brief overview of the current agricultural landscape in Africa. I hope this will be helpful in framing and guiding future posts.  The agricultural sector employs 48% of the total African population, the overwhelming majority of which are smallholder farmers with 80% of all farms being less than two hectares in size  (Blein et al., 2017) . While this provides a livelihood for many through the sale of produce to local markets, these small farms are also the primary source of food for the immediate household  (Gollin,2014) . Moreover, many do not own mechanised farming equipment or have any control over the watering of their crops with less than 5% of arable land in Sub-Saharan Africa irrigated  (Christiaensen, 2017) .  Yields are therefore largely dependent on precipitation rates. It is important to note that agricultural systems and practices across Africa are hugely diverse reflecting different...

Welcome to my first blog post on water and food in Africa! For the upcoming academic term, I will be writing weekly entries on the broad subject of water and food in Africa and aim to guide you through some selected issues but also showcase innovative responses which address water and food security in Africa. Why water? Water is fundamental for livelihoods, health, development and all ecosystems. Water covers 71% of the earth’s surface however only 3% of this is freshwater. 70% of this freshwater is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. The remaining accessible freshwater is unevenly distributed with 6 countries (Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia) accounting for half of the global reserves  ( National Geographic, 2020 ) . Therefore, the management and distribution of water is an urgent issue of global importance given that water resources are reaching critical points with novel pressures on the hydrological cycle from climate, demographic and land-use ch...