Land and Water Resources Management Key to Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture in Africa

The bulk of Africa feeds its people mostly through agriculture. But as climate change talks it toll, and thousands upon thousands are exposed to daily starvation, one can only say that for Africa, the future is in Irrigation.

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The good news of course is that the bulk of Africa is blessed with all the critical factors for the success of irrigation. Africa is one of the world’s most usable water-resource blessed continents, most expansive cultivable lands and as much underutilized labor as can exist anywhere.

What remains is to harness these factors. If Africa can do these, it will become a giving food basket that feeds the world rather than a receiving food basket that is fed by the world.

Africa’s rapid population growth, industrialization and urbanization have meanwhile intensified and diversified the demand for land and water resources, increasing competition and exerting extra strain on their utilization.

This escalating urban population and its inherent water demands, substantiated by emerging economic activities like recreation, floriculture and fish farming, in addition to climate and landscape changes, present a host of threats to irrigated agriculture in Africa.

Henceforth, irrespective of the abundant resources, Africa’s irrigated agriculture challenge concerns in larger part, how through investment, maintenance and improvement of urban and rural agriculture water supplies, its water and land resources can be managed to meet increasing and diversifying demands of agricultural, industrial, municipal and environment users.

The first step, for individual Africa nations, following from their respective unique characteristics, is to arrive at a formative Irrigated Agriculture Investment Code, something akin to a contract between the State and the farmers on how to develop irrigated, in addition to a robust Stewardship Policy that engages and obliges both the State and the farmer to specific responsibilities.

Irrespective, nevertheless, of how these responsibilities are distributed, respective States should gazette and develop select areas into public irrigation farmlands, and, owing to its resource capacity, develop and invest in water infrastructure, including but not limited to conveyance systems taking water to far areas, plus surface and underground storage infrastructure like tanks or valley dams.

There is always the issue of land wrangles that immediately rise associated to the State’s involvement, which could hinder the availability of land. It is a problem throughout Africa. But this issue of land holdings must be addressed by effectively allocating and guaranteeing secure property rights to land assorted for irrigation development.

Encouraging the formation of Water User Associations to locally manage water flow, collect fees for its use, and repatriate an agreed percentage to the State will equally build confidence.

With infrastructure in place, the African States should prioritize offering Continuing Training in Agronomy and Farm Management, researching and disseminating efficient irrigation and drainage systems, paying for the irrigation network and pricing water usage according to water-saving requirements.

States should also offer incentives for proper water management through rational tariff and cost recovery, provide credit services, and subsidize costs of irrigation equipment, eventually guaranteeing market and prices of select irrigated crops through contracts and a stabilization fund.

In turn, it will be the farmer’s obligation to irrigate and farm their land according to National Economic interests. Besides repaying the State an agreed percentage of her investment costs while assuming 100% of operation and maintenance costs through paying land improvement tax and volumetric water charges, famers will be required to expand the useable supply of water through harvesting, recycling and/or reclaiming water for irrigation.