Improving livelihood resilience and food security by promoting small-scale irrigation technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract EN

For millions of poor farm families in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), access to irrigation water is a dividing line between poverty and prosperity.

One key strategy that could contribute to the alleviation of poverty and improvement in food security is to increase accessibility of poor farmers to irrigation water.

In most of the irrigated areas of SSA, farmers are largely unaware of the concepts of ‘usual’ or ‘optimum’ depth of irrigation application.

Their perception about a good irrigation is the depth of irrigation applied to the field regardless of soil moisture deficiency and the age and conditions of the crop.

As a result, the applied amount of irrigation is much higher than the actual amount of water required for a particular crop.

This clearly suggests that farmers need to be educated regarding improved water management practices and water saving strategies.

Due to diminishing resources of water in SSA, farmers need to learn how to apply the right amount of water at the right time.

In response to the need for sustainable irrigation technologies in SSA as a means to improve agricultural productivity and reduce chronic poverty, we did a comprehensive study in four SSA countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal) with the objective to test Californian irrigation system.

The project results indicate that Californian system used 15- 25% less water compared to traditional bucket irrigation systems and produced 10-15% higher crop yields.

Reduced water application to different crops directly increase incomes of the farmers as it reduces the cost of irrigation (less fuel used).

Initial investments are US$ 600-1000 per ha for the Californian system.

Farmers prefer this technology over drip and sprinkler technologies due to its low cost and easy operation and maintenance.

Despite these advantages, large scale adoption of this technology by smallholder farmers remains a challenge because farmers are poor and do not have enough financial resources to adopt this technology.

Analysis of socio-economic data reveals that profitability of growing traditional vegetables using small-scale irrigation technologies in these countries is relatively low due to high production costs.

On average, farmers earn US$ 1000-1500 per ha from the production of onion.

Fertilizer and fuel costs are the leading production cost elements.

Fuel and makes up 25% and 30% of the total production costs, respectively.

Therefore more concerted efforts are needed to make this technology affordable for smallholder farmers.

Introduction of solar pumps for small-scale irrigation technologies could be a step in the right direction to increase productivity and profitability of small farmers.

Training of farmers in the operation and maintenance of this technology is also stressed by farmers.