Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
4.2.1
Socio-Economic Impact of Large-Scale
Irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa
Large-scale irrigation, if managed efficiently, can generate a stable flow of
income through increased intensity of cropping, improved yields and more
stable yields across seasons and years, which may also augment employment
opportunities, in-migration and real wage rates.
Sub-Saharan Africa has agricultural-based economies with about 80% of the
inhabitants depending on agriculture. Agriculture represents about 40% of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of sub-Saharan African countries. Irrigation
not only raises farmer income but also feeds into the economy of the
countries concerned. For example, the Office du Niger irrigation scheme has
created an agro-based industry which forms the backbone of the Mali
economy.
Poverty reduction in many parts of India has been attributed to the
availability of irrigation (Ray et al., 1988). According to statistics from the
World Bank (2000, 2001) there are huge regional differences in the
proportion of cropland that is irrigated and these coincide with successes or
failures in poverty reduction. Regions that have the greatest proportion of
cultivated irrigated area (namely East Asia and Pacific and North Africa and
Middle East) have experienced the greatest poverty reduction. In sub-
Saharan Africa less than 5% of cropland is irrigated and the region has
remained stricken in poverty. Statistics show that poverty in Sub-Saharan
Africa only reduced from 47.7% to 46.3% from 1990 to 1998 with a
corresponding increase in irrigated area of a mere 0.5% (World Bank, 2000;
2001).
Large-scale irrigation has also helped to reduce adverse consequences of
drought by storing water for both livestock and the surrounding
communities. Around the large reservoirss of many such schemes buoyant
fishing economies developed, created additional employment for many poor
people, as well as additional supplies of valuable proteins.
Large-scale irrigation development, however, has also created negative social
impacts. Some inhabitants were resettled during the development of large-
reservoir irrigation schemes without adequate compensation. In the
resettlement process their livelihoods were severely affected leaving them in
worse conditions. An example is the development of the Vea irrigation
scheme in Ghana. During the development of this scheme, the inhabitants of
the project area who used to farm there were resettled along the periphery of
the scheme, but were not compensated for loss of infrastructure, land and
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