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Concluding Thoughts

In this blog space, I set out to explore the fascinating relationship between food and water in Africa. As now coming to an end, I hope my blogs can create a measurable impact on you guys. The case studies that I explore in this blog such as Egypt, South Africa, Tanzania, and Somaliland have demonstrated how water access and subsequently, food production is of a distribution problem but not quantity. For Africa, its physical variabilities in climate and seasonality altered rainfall patterns across the continent and therefore food production patterns onwards. The extreme climatic conditions make me wonder and inspired me with the rest of my blog to focus on finding solution for water and food security. From groundwater extraction to genetically modified crops to desalination projects, I seek the potential of various solutions for water and food security across Africa. These projects have worked to an extent for their users, but to see the whole picture, these expensive engineering and t...
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Dams for Africa: Damage or Power?

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Like no other transboundary river basins, the Nile struggles to maintain a balance of water supply.  60 percent of the African population resides within a transboundary river basin ( Nijsten et al., 2018 ) where conflicts arise over who has the political rights and terrestrial sovereignty to the access of water resources. In this blog, I will be investigating water in Africa, particularly the effects of dam construction on food production, and understanding the impacts of transboundary water use. Like no other transboundary river basins, the Nile struggles to maintain a balance of water supply. The Blue Nile is a transboundary river basin between Ethiopia and Sudan, it is a major water contributor to the River Nile and encompasses countless hydropower dams ( Basheeret al., 2018 ). Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has stoked long-standing dispute between Egypt and Sudan- the Nile’s downstream states- and Ethiopia and the upstream states (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanz...
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Creating an 'OASIS' with seawater

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“ The world isn’t short of water, it’s just in the wrong place, and too salty."-Charles Paton According to the World Health Organization, by 2025, half of the world's population will be living in water-stressed areas , where the demand for clean, useable water exceeds the supply available. But what if freshwater is not the answer? What if there is an infinite source of water for agricultural irrigation? Desalination of seawater might be a revolutionary solution to increase food and water security for water-stress countries in Africa. In simplistic terms, it is the process of removing salinity from seawater and making the water safe for consumption ( Khawaji et al., 2008 ). Rather than relying on the common way of obtaining water from areas of surplus, water is created, and this can provide incredible precious sources of water supply for water-scarce nations enabling them to be self-sustainable in water and food. How to grow food from seawater? Rows of fruit and vegetables- jui...
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The Dilemma: To use or not use, GMOs?

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Rapid shifts in climatic patterns have led to more frequent, widespread, and intense droughts across Africa, and it is expected to worsen in the future ( Masih et al., 2014 ). Drought is a major obstacle to crop production in Africa. In 2016, the El Nino event hit southern Africa hard and introduced drought causing 29 million people to be food insecure ( Muzhinji and Ntuli, 2020 ). To address the concern over agriculture production with limited and increasingly unpredictable water supplies, the development and adaptation of technology-based solutions such as GMOs becomes more urgent.  The development of genetically engineered cops, categorized as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is expected to have great potential in increasing the ability of the population to feed, fuel and heal itself in light of the growing global population and adverse climatic conditions. This post will seek to understand the benefits and drawbacks of GMOs and whether they can provide a solid solution in ...
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Smallholder Farmers in Africa: The Case of Tanzania (Part 2)

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  Hi, welcome back to the second part of ‘Smallholder farmers in Africa: The case of Tanzania’! In this section, the focus will be on the empowerment and commercialization of smallholder rice farmers in Tanzania for promoting food security. Farmers in Tanzania, despite accounting for more than 70% of the agricultural industry, have limited capacity to boost production and increase earnings due to their reliance on low-tech farming techniques. Local government and community-based organizations are offering supports and solutions to tackle such restraints. Improvement of government policies Tanzania's government has recognized the need of addressing these issues. The Tanzanian government launched the Agriculture Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) in 2001, followed by the Agricultural Sector Development Program (ASDP) in 2003, with the goal of enhancing agricultural productivity, profitability, and farm incomes ( Vermeulen and Cotula, 2010 ).  Recently, the government introduced ...
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Smallholder Farmers in Africa: The Case of Tanzania (Part 1)

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The persistent problems of food insecurity in Africa have led to widespread malnutrition and famine across the continent, it is stated that one out of four undernourished individuals in the world lives in Africa ( Blein et al., 2013 ). In the following two blog posts, I will be looking at smallholder farmers in Africa, specifically in Tanzania. Agriculture employs more people than any other occupation on the planet, and the agriculture sector in Tanzania contributes considerably to the economy, employment generation, and food security. Tanzania is one of the SSA countries where agriculture forms the backbone of the economy, accounting for approximately 45 percent of GDP, 60 percent of merchandise exports, 75 percent of rural family incomes, and 80 percent of the population employed in agriculture ( Andersson et al., 2005 ; United Republic of Tanzania,2011 ). Rice is the major food and cash crop in Tanzania, as acknowledged by Agritrade ( Rugumamu, 2014 ) and Kafitiriti et al. ( 2003 ),...
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Is Africa really short of water? -- The Potential of Groundwater

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Groundwater is an integrated component of the natural water cycle and can be found almost anywhere beneath our feet. This hidden source of water is important for drinking, livestock, and irrigation in Africa. Sustainable freshwater sources are critical in fulfilling the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 on water.  According to the first quantitative map of groundwater resources in Africa produced by MacDonald et al. (2012) , the volume of groundwater is estimated to be 0.66 million km 3 . To view this number in a more realistic manner, this is 100 times more than annual renewable freshwater resources and 20 times more than the freshwater present in African lakes. However, this gigantic pool of ‘hope’ to Africa has been widely ignored and misunderstood. Falkenmark’s study (1989) on the Water Stress Index only sees a definite measure of water scarcity that is based on the “hydraulic density of population”. This water metric disregards freshwater storage such a...
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