Agricultural growth is the key to the development of the rural economy and it could make an important contribution to reducing poverty and eradicating hunger in Africa (You et al., 2010). The development of irrigation is an important basis for agricultural development across the continent. Most farmers in the region practice rain-fed agriculture and agricultural productivity is the lowest in the world, partly because of the underuse of irrigation (You et al., 2010), despite being well endowed with water resources for this purpose. SSA faces far less pressure on water resources from population growth than Asia. The Asian experience has some potentially important lessons for SSA, where food and water security are becoming increasingly interconnected with the growth of irrigation. In Africa, the achievement of food security would mean massive job creation, improved livelihoods in the agricultural sector and overall broad-based growth through forward and backward linkages in the economy (Global Water Partnership, 2013).
In the SSA region, 60% of the population is directly dependent on the agricultural sector for their livelihood. There is more than 197million hectare (Mha) of land under agriculture, which is the largest industry in many countries in the region (You et al., 2010). About 7Mha are irrigated, which is just 6% of the total cultivated area, compared to 38% in Asia (Siebert et al., 2010), 14% in Latin America and a global average of about 18% (You et al., 2010). Two-thirds of this irrigated land is situated in three countries: Madagascar, South Africa and Sudan. Therefore, food production in the region is almost entirely rain-fed. However, irrigation is important to help farmers cope with seasonal droughts (i.e. when farmers have irrigation infrastructure they tolerate the impact of drought) and it plays an integral role in the transition from subsistence to commercial farming. The Southern Africa sub-region, led by South Africa, draws on about 6% of the total renewable water resources for agriculture (You et al., 2010:3). Agriculture is the biggest consumer of water in South Africa, but De Lange indicates that agriculture’s share of the usable supply has decreased from approximately 70% in the 1960s to roughly 60% in 2013 (De Lange, 2016:248). This difference is due to the
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fact that the former focused on only renewable water resources while the later indicated all types of water resources.
Many of the SSA countries do not have ‘physical water scarcity’ (although it is unevenly distributed across the region), but they are confronted with ‘economic water scarcity’, i.e. a lack of capital and technology (skill) to covert the water resource for economic benefit. Economic water scarcity happens when physical water resources are available, but there is a lack of economic resources and incentives to convert the water resources into economic benefit (Van Koppen, 2003; Svendsen et al., 2009). For instance, groundwater development in the region is hindered by the relatively high cost of well construction compared to India and China. While pump manufacturing facilities and well-construction companies grew rapidly in China and India during the 1970s and 1980s, this has not occurred in SSA. Investment costs in irrigation development are relatively high because of a shortage of competitive private companies in the region providing well construction, pump supply and pump maintenance services (World Bank, 2008).
This indicates that a shortage of capital (technology), financial and human capacity (skills), and institutions are the largest constraints faced by poor farmers in the region in accessing new irrigation technologies (Svendsen et al., 2009). Farmers must draw from their own savings (if they have any), borrow from family or private money lenders, use remittances or sales from farm proceeds, obtain loans from formal credit institutions, or benefit from different subsidies or donation packages (Abric et al., 2011). Subsidies used for pumps, well digging, fertilisers, energy and other inputs (Abric et al., 2011). For instance, direct grants or subsidies for deep-well, groundwater irrigation development for smallholder farmers have been implemented in the Raya Valley in Ethiopia (Gebregziabher et al., 2013) and for shallow wells in Nigeria (Abric et al., 2011). It is estimated that the total investment costs of the fadama systems in Nigeria have been US$ 1 650/ha (Abric et al., 2011), and US$ 6 250/ha (including electric power, powerhouses and installation for drip and sprinkler systems) in the Raya Valley in Ethiopia (Gebregziabher et al., 2013). Furthermore, costs are elevated in the region due to corruption (i.e. deviations from policies and regulations, and organisational and institutional imperatives) in issuing drilling contracts and the inappropriate design of wells, etc. (World Bank, 2008).
Statistics on groundwater usage in SSA are sparse and incomplete. In recent years, there has been a growing trend in many countries to establish groundwater infrastructure for irrigation purposes at both subsistence and commercial scales to increase the food supply and tackle poverty (Tuinhof et al., 2011). Groundwater resource development remains generally low (except in localised areas of southern Africa and around some of the major cities for potable water). However, there is excessive resource exploitation for commercial agriculture in some regions, even though groundwater resources for irrigation are not significant. For instance, the Kajiado district of Kenya (immediately south of Nairobi), the Limpopo Basin karst aquifers of South Africa, and similar limestone aquifers in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia, all suffer from shortages of groundwater resources due to over exploitation and a lack of rainfall to restore groundwater potential. Thus, effective planning and sustainable implementation of groundwater resource development should be
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prioritised to meet the critical social welfare targets and livelihood opportunities by augmenting investment in infrastructure (Tuinhof et al., 2011).
It is important to increasing the use of groundwater resources for irrigation purposes to accelerate the growth of the agricultural sector, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. There are two mechanisms for doing this: first, ‘[e]xtensive groundwater use for small-scale irrigation on village communal land and by smallholders (using low cost water wells) for horticulture and drought proofing staple crop production’; second, ‘[m]uch intensive use of groundwater irrigation to produce cash crops for national and international markets’ (Tuinhof et al., 2011). Only a small proportion of agricultural land of the region is equipped for irrigated cropping, and groundwater use for irrigation is extremely limited (Siebert et al., 2010). However, a recent assessment of the SSA region indicates that the total figure for groundwater irrigated area increased to 1248Mha, representing 20% of the total irrigated area in the region (Villholth, 2013). This is significantly higher than earlier estimates of 0.4Mha, about 6% of the total irrigated area (Siebert et al., 2010).
‘Groundwater is accessed through diverse schemes, varying by scale, funding source, ownership of land and resources, type and depth of groundwater utilized, crops grown, degree of market orientation and systems used to extract the groundwater’ (Villholth, 2013:375). Table 2.2 shows that‘[a] simple typology that encompasses the most prominent forms of GWI in SSA, which distinguishes between two overall parameters: depth of the groundwater utilized and funding source’ (Villholth, 2013:375). The deeper systems tend to provide more secure and perennial water availability, but these require larger initial investments, higher maintenance and operational costs, and farmer organisation to deal with water sharing and maximising the benefits from the infrastructure. The public sector also tends to have better control of implementation, farmer training, monitoring of deep-well systems, and strengthening institutional arrangements, both at scheme and community levels (Villholth, 2013).
Table 2.2: Typology of groundwater irrigation in SSA
Funding sources
Depth of wells
Deep (greater than 20 m) Shallow (less than 20 m)
Private (farmers themselves)
Commercial, large-scale, mechanised, export oriented
Examples: flower-farms in Ethiopia, centre- pivot grain farms in Zambia
Informal, small-scale, farmer-driven Examples: vegetable growing schemes in northeast Ghana
Public (public sector, NGOs or international donors)
Deep-well systems, subsidised
Examples: public schemes in Raya Valley groundwater irrigation in Ethiopia
Shallow-well systems, subsidised Examples: fadama systems in Nigeria
Source: Adapted from Villholth (2013)
In general, understanding the potential and role of groundwater irrigation for poverty alleviation and food security achievement in SSA is increasing rapidly due to recent public- and private-sector investments at
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different scales. Various development irrigation models, ranging from community-based, deep well, groundwater schemes to individualistic, shallow groundwater schemes have been implemented so far. In the SSA region, groundwater resources are still abundant in many areas but the development of these resources requires financial and human resources, as well as institutional capacities to extract these resources sustainably to meet the needs of both the present and future generations. Diverse and effective, context- specific institutions at different levels are crucial to use the existing water resources sustainably (both economically and ecologically) for irrigation to eradicate poverty from the region, like the South and Southeast Asian countries did. Without the proper institutions, finance and skill developments, common-pool resources like irrigation will either underprovide or be overused. ‘Common-pool resources are natural or man-made resources shared among different users, a condition that produces a competition for their utilization leading often (although not necessarily) to their degradation or even to their destruction’ (Bravo & Marelli, 2008:1). Therefore, the institutional aspects (the software vis-à-vis physical infrastructure) should give the same emphasis as installing the irrigation infrastructure (the hardware).