Water for food, water for life

topic:	Food Security
located:	Ghana, Nigeria
editor:	Bob Koigi

Water is life, and nowhere does this ring true more than in agriculture, which is the foundation of crop growth and our food systems.

In Africa, where agriculture remains the lifeline of nations’ economies, smallholder farmers, who form the bulk of food producers, continue to grapple with water availability and access stirred by failed and intermittent rains. Most farmers rely on rains for food production, with rainfed cultivation accounting for approximately 95 per cent of farmers’ agricultural activities.

The overreliance on rainfed agriculture at a time when the continent is experiencing sporadic seasonal rainfalls has further exacerbated the poor yields and food insecurity situation across African countries.

Some African countries are adopting innovative and judicious water use and management techniques to combat the worsening water crisis and its adverse impacts on the continent’s food systems.

West African countries are blazing the trail by embracing simple water caption and storage practices such as harvesting and storing water using dam liners while developing sophisticated water monitoring technologies.

Aeroponics farming, for example, has become familiar with vanguard Nigerian farmers keen on conserving water. It involves growing crops in a controlled environment where the roots of crops are suspended in the air, and farmers apply mists. This dramatically minimises water use and reduces pests’ attacks while increasing yields.

In Nigeria, smallholder food producers are increasingly adopting innovative irrigation methods such as drip irrigation, which has helped to reduce water loss.

Creative youth have also developed water conservation technologies like water sensors that monitor crop moisture levels, allowing farmers to use this information to water their crops when necessary.

In Ghana, solar-powered irrigation pumps allow farmers to draw water from water bodies to their farms conveniently and reduce the cost of removing that water and growing their food in an environmentally sound atmosphere, a departure from the fossil fuel-powered pumps they were traditionally used to.

The Bhungroo Irrigation Technology, an invention native to India, is a hit in Ghana, where excess standing floodwater is tapped and stored underground to be used during the dry season.

The world marks World Food Day today with the theme ‘‘Water is Life, Water is Food. Leave No One Behind.’ The clarion call is to bring everyone on board to appreciate the value of any drop of water, especially in the food systems, and play their part by ensuring effective water management because, without it, Africa faces starvation.

Image by Sergey Pesterev.

Call to Action

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