Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
areas, which makes up 28% of the total harvested area (de Fraiture et al.,
2007). Many expect that the contribution of irrigated agriculture to food
production and rural development will increase in the coming decades
(Seckler et al., 2000a; Bruinsma, 2003).
While investments in irrigation have yielded significant impacts in terms of
improving food security and poverty reduction in areas such as South-East
Asia and East Asia, the same cannot be said for sub-Saharan Africa
(Rosegrant et al., 2001; Hussain 2005). Regions such as South-East Asia have
almost exhausted their irrigation development potential, making the
potential irrigable land in Sub-Saharan Africa a major hope for the world in
terms of feeding the future population (FAO, 2006).
Due to the far reaching benefits of irrigation farming, several investments in
sub-Saharan Africa have been directed towards irrigation development. These
investments have been driven by government policies (colonial and post-
colonial), multinational donor agencies, private investors, markets, and by
technological innovations such as, drip, motorized pumps and treadle pumps.
It has therefore resulted in several types of irrigation systems in sub-Saharan
Africa over time. International donors have shown renewed interest in
irrigation investments, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where irrigation
development has remained well below its physical potential. The Commission
for Africa (2005) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development
(NEPAD) have described the need to doubling the irrigated area in Sub-
Saharan Africa to achieve the MDGs (de Fraiture et al., 2007). Meanwhile,
irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa has been slow, resulting from
several unresolved factors.
To improve irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa the following is
required: (1) an assessment of the factors that have influenced past trends of
irrigation development, (2) identification and application of lessons from
successful irrigation systems in the sub-Saharan African context, (3)
discovery of additional interventions needed to accelerate the future
expansion and the potential influence of such interventions, and (4)
promotion of policies that ensure productive and sustainable irrigation
development.
The implications for increasing irrigation development are enormous.
Expansion of irrigated agriculture increases consumptive water use which
obviously reduces available water for other competing water uses. Increased
cultivation in recent decades has resulted in increased diversion of
freshwater, with some 70% of water now being used for agriculture and
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