Through the lens - A perspective on water and food in Africa

Hey there,  I´m back with my second blog post on large-scale farming. Fig. 1: Large-scale irrigation schemes bare risk of negatively affecting the environment ( Erasmus 2017 ) Environmental implications Large-scale farming projects and huge irrigation schemes clearly have impacts on the environment. Firstly, a lack of water regulation for contracted land results in rather inefficient irrigation schemes that may influence water availability for ecosystems ( Johansson et.al. 2016 ). Additionally, when looking at the crops cultivated, it becomes clear that a high percentage of large-scale agriculture is water intensive and not necessarily suitable for the targeted region. However, these large-scale farms are often more profit-oriented and choose crops according to demand and market prices rather than because of its suitability ( Johansson et.al. 2016 ).   So, although irrigation maximizes "agricultural productivity and reduce the risk of crop failure” ( Johan...

In one of my previous posts I talked about small-scale groundwater-irrigation and its importance for food security. Now I wanna have a look at large-scale farming, which is currently promoted by many African governments and foreign investors. The Guardian e.g. headlined in 2017 “Only modernised commercial farms will fill Africa´s plate, economists warn” ( The Guardian 10/10/2017 ). In contrast to that, terms like land and water grabs have become prominent in the media and recent studies, casting a poor light on large-scale commercial farming in Africa. But, what are its implications for sustaining food security? Fig. 1: large-scale farm blocks in Zambia ( africanfarming.org ) Large-scale acquisitions of land and water  Large-scale land acquisitions can generally be seen as “areas larger than 200 ha contracted for commercial agriculture […]” ( Johansson et.al.2016: 11472 ) including one or more private or public investors. These deals have gained popularity in t...

The topic of climate change has dominated the media for the last years. Whether it is about melting ice caps, sea level rise or devastating wildfires. But what does climate change have to do with water and food security in Africa? As I have mentioned before, although water is relatively abundant in South Saharan Africa, due to poor infrastructure and unevenly distributed accessibility, the majority of its population does not have sufficient access to water resources. Climate change has the potential to put even more pressure on water availability in SSA, thereby affecting food security. This becomes clear on a local scale, when looking at the example of Lake Chad. Fig. 1: Drying floodplains of Lake Chad ( The Guardian 2018 ) The Lake Chad crisis Lake Chad is located in central western Africa bordering the four countries of Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad. It has once been the 4 th largest lake in Africa and provided water for a booming fishery industry and crop product...