Too Late To Irrigate?

In order to reduce the most prevalent problem of economic water scarcity throughout the African continent, countries can invest in infrastructure development to reduce vulnerability to seasonal fluctuations in water supply (Molden et al. 2007). Irrigation schemes may provide the answer for countries to improve their adaptive capacity and reduce their vulnerability to droughts and floods (ibid).  The importance of irrigation is highlighted by Molden et al. (2007) who call for irrigation efficiency potential and enhanced water management as a proxy for a country’s adaptive capacity.

Irrigation is defined as the ‘artificial application of water to soil, in the correct amounts and frequency, for optimal soil infiltration and plant growth’ (CLWA2017). However, there are different types of irrigation schemes which countries can adopt at various scales (Sullivan and Pittock 2014). After summarising the brief history of irrigation in Africa, the next few blog posts will aim to provide information to help African governments to make an informed decision as to which form of irrigation they should invest in, to improve food security. Food security is reached ‘when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’ (ibid: 1).  

A Brief History

From 1963 to 2000, Africa was the only continent that did not experience greater growth in food production than population, even though food production grew at a faster rate in developing countries than in developed countries (Molden et al. 2007). One reason for this were the substantial investments in irrigation schemes which allowed crop yields to flourish (ibid). For example, it was not uncommon for irrigation investment to account for over half of the agricultural budgets of several countries throughout Asia (ibid).

Figure 1: Slow growth for Africa's irrigation. (Molden et al. 2007)

However, Sub-Saharan Africa has taken a back seat in the global irrigation story and is late to the game (see Figure 1). But is Africa late? My use of the word ‘late’ questionably implies that Africa should also follow the same path as Asia and irrigate a greater percentage of its land. After all, 70% of global irrigated land is in Asia, and Africa could grab a share of this percentage (ibid; see Figure 1). However, having been inspired by postcolonial literature such as Escobar (1995) and Kothari (2005) in my second year ‘Development Geography’ course, I would like to critically examine this linear trajectory of development and modernisation. To what extent are large scale irrigation projects and dams a neo-colonial project (Kothari 2005)? And have irrigation schemes improved food security?

Large Scale Irrigation and Dams

As you may already be aware, there are a range of negative impacts of dams which include environmental degradation and the involuntary resettlement of local populations. I wish I could discuss all the impacts in this blog post but within development literature, it is widely accepted that large scale, top-down infrastructure projects have generally been unsuccessful due to the numerous negative environmental impacts and lower than expected economic benefits (Adams 2014; Adams 1990). These schemes, funded by the World Bank and other bilateral and multilateral aid donors, can be seen as ‘cultural interventions’ on how Africa manages its natural resources (Adams 2014: 9). Despite the repeated failings of larger scale projects, Africa remains adamant to focus on expanding these projects in the future (ibid).

For example, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country which is currently experiencing economic water scarcity, is set to construct the world’s biggest dam – The Inga 3 Dam (GCR 2017). With earliest completion dates expected in 2024, the $14bn dam has potential to generate 12GW of electricity (ibid). However, I was curious to find out how this would specifically affect DRCs food production. Upon further research, I realised that this dam was being built specifically for hydroelectric purposes. However, the case study is still relevant because even though electricity is an output, the opportunity cost is losing agricultural land; creating a reservoir would flood the Bundi Valley, seriously impacting local ecosystems (International Rivers 2017). Investigating further, I wondered if the dam could ever be used for irrigation in the future, once the infrastructure was in place. Because this is not a multipurpose dam, it is unlikely that the function will be changed in the future once the dam becomes an integral part of the energy mix in DRC.

Dams built solely for irrigation purposes include the High Aswan Dam, which has a stunning reservoir capacity of 162 billion m³ (FAO 2007). The Sennar Dam in Sudan is also built for irrigation and provides water for the Gezira-Managil scheme (ibid). The scheme, built in 1925 to support crops such as cotton, has had low performance with yields since 1993 and has experienced poor efficiency levels compared to similar irrigation schemes (Eldaw 2004; Al-Zayed et al. 2015). Once again, this dam was not primarily supporting the production of food, a resource that the continent is currently desperate for. However, a recent revamp of the scheme (in 2013) run by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has aimed to promote the production of rice (CFI 2013). The government aims to fulfil and surpass the domestic annual rice demand of 50,000 tonnes to then earn revenue from exports (ibid). Constructing an irrigation dam is more flexible as the water can be used for multiple purposes; the purpose can change again in the future as needs evolve.

Conclusion

The World Commission of Dams was set up to critically review the impact of large scale dams globally; the commission had a strong verdict which highlighted that the ‘lack of equity in the distribution of benefits’ was a significant reason to consider alternatives for meeting water and energy targets (Strobl and Strobl 2011: 433). Therefore, should Africa’s focus be shifted onto increasing smaller scale irrigation schemes?

List of References

Adams, W. M. (1990) ‘How beautiful is small? Scale, control and success in Kenyan irrigation’, World development, 18, 10, 1309-1323.

Adams, W. M. (2014) Wasting the Rain (Routledge Revivals): Rivers, People and Planning in Africa, London: Routledge.

Al Zayed, I. S., N. A. Elagib, L. Ribbe and J. Heinrich (2015) ‘Spatio-temporal performance of large-scale Gezira Irrigation Scheme, Sudan’, Agricultural Systems, 133, 131-142.

CFI (2013) ‘Revamping the Gezira Scheme: Sudan Seeks Food Security with Rice’ (WWW) (http://cfi.co/africa/2013/08/revamping-the-gezira-scheme-sudan-seeks-food-security-with-rice/; accessed 30/10/2017).

CLWA (2017) ‘What is irrigation and why is it important?’ (WWW) (https://clwa.org/water-news/what-is-irrigation-and-why-is-it-important; accessed 30/10/2017).

Eldaw, A. M. (2004) The Gezira Scheme: perspectives for sustainable development, German Development Institute.

Escobar, A. (1995). Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the Third World, Princeton University Press.

FAO (2007) Dams and Agriculture in Africa, AQUASTAT Programme

GCR (2017) ‘DR Congo’s Inga 3 dam to double in size to 12GW’ (WWW) (http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/dr-congos-inga-3-dam-double-size-12gw/; accessed 30/10/2017).

International Rivers (2017) ‘Grand Inga Dam, DR Congo’ (WWW) (https://www.internationalrivers.org/campaigns/grand-inga-dam-dr-congo; accessed 30/10/2017).

Kothari, U. (2005) ‘From colonial administration to development studies: a post-colonial critique of the history of development studies’, in U. Kothari (ed.) A radical history of development studies: Individuals, institutions and ideologies, London: Zed Books, 47-66.

Molden, D., K. Frenken, R. Barker, C. D. Fraiture, B. Mati, M. Svendsen, ... and A. Inocencio (2007) ‘Trends in water and agricultural development’, in D. Molden (ed.) Water for food, water for life : a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture, London: Earthscan, 57-89.

Strobl, E. and R. O. Strobl (2011) ‘The distributional impact of large dams: Evidence from cropland productivity in Africa’, Journal of development Economics, 96, 2, 432-450.

Sullivan, A. and J. Pittock (2014) ‘Agricultural policies and irrigation in Africa. Water, food and agricultural sustainability in Southern Africa’, in J. Pittock, R. Q. Grafton and C. White (eds.) Water, food and agricultural sustainability in Southern Africa, Prahran: Tilde, 30-54.