Targeting investments in small-scale groundwater irrigation using Bayesian networks for a data-scarce river basin in Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 44-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Katic ◽  
Joanne Morris
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Networks ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Groundwater Irrigation ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Shallow groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa: neglected opportunity for sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gowing ◽  
Geoff Parkin ◽  
Nathan Forsythe ◽  
David Walker ◽  
Alemseged Tamiru Haile ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Shallow Groundwater ◽  
Sustainable Intensification ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

Abstract. There is a need for an evidence-based approach to identify how best to support development of groundwater for small scale irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We argue that it is important to focus this effort on shallow groundwater resources which are most likely to be used by poor rural communities in SSA. However, it is important to consider constraints, since shallow groundwater resources are likely to be vulnerable to over-exploitation and climatic variability. We examine here the opportunities and constraints and draw upon evidence from Ethiopia. We present a methodology for assessing and interpreting available shallow groundwater resources and argue that participatory monitoring of local water resources is desirable and feasible. We consider possib le models for developing distributed small-scale irrigation and assess its technical feasibility. Because of power limits on water lifting and also because of available technology for well construction, groundwater at depths of 50 m or 60 m cannot be regarded as easily accessible for small-scale irrigation. We therefore adopt a working definition of shallow groundwater as < 20 m depth. This detailed case study in the Dangila woreda in Ethiopia explores the feasibility of exploiting shallow groundwater for small-scale irrigation over a range of rainfall conditions. Variability of rainfall over the study period (9 % to 96 % probability of non-exceedance) does not translate into equivalent variability in groundwater levels and river baseflow. Groundwater levels, monitored by local communities, persist into the dry season to at least the end of December in most shallow wells, indicating that groundwater is available for irrigation use after the cessation of the wet season. Arguments historically put forward against the promotion of groundwater use for agriculture in SSA on the basis that aquifers are unproductive and irrigation will have unacceptable impacts on wetlands and other groundwater-dependent ecosystems appear exaggerated. It would be unwise to generalise from this case study to the whole of SSA, but useful insights into the wider issues are revealed by the case study approach. We believe there is a case for arguing that shallow groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa represents a neglected opportunity for sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture.

Smallholder groundwater irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa: an interdisciplinary framework applied to the Usangu plains, Tanzania

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1481-1495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen G. Villholth ◽  
Jegan Ganeshamoorthy ◽  
Christian M. Rundblad ◽  
Theis S. Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Groundwater Irrigation ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Reform of irrigation management and investment policy in African development

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 652-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
KW Easter ◽  
S Zekri
Keyword(s):  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Farm ◽  
Irrigation Development ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Direct Government ◽  
Small Scale Irrigation

This paper examines the reform of water and irrigation management in Africa and compares it with similar reforms in Asia.  Several things are evident from the review.  First, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is at an earlier stage of irrigation development and reform than Asia.  Second, the articulated need for reform is much stronger in Asia than it is in SSA.  Third, the productivity of small-scale irrigated farms is significantly lower in SSA compared to Asia.  Thus any irrigation investment strategy in SSA should be different from Asia and focus on increasing small-farm productivity as well as small-scale irrigation projects.  Finally, all direct government irrigation investments should be done jointly with decisions regarding the type of project management.

scholarly journals The national determinants of deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1625) ◽  
pp. 20120405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas K. Rudel
Keyword(s):  
Forest Cover ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
National Level ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Forest Cover Change ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Sub Saharan

For decades, the dynamics of tropical deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have defied easy explanation. The rates of deforestation have been lower than elsewhere in the tropics, and the driving forces evident in other places, government new land settlement schemes and industrialized agriculture, have largely been absent in SSA. The context and causes for African deforestation become clearer through an analysis of new, national-level data on forest cover change for SSA countries for the 2000–2005 period. The recent dynamic in SSA varies from dry to wet biomes. Deforestation occurred at faster rates in nations with predominantly dry forests. The wetter Congo basin countries had lower rates of deforestation, in part because tax receipts from oil and mineral industries in this region spurred rural to urban migration, declines in agriculture and increased imports of cereals from abroad. In this respect, the Congo basin countries may be experiencing an oil and mineral fuelled forest transition. Small farmers play a more important role in African deforestation than they do in southeast Asia and Latin America, in part because small-scale agriculture remains one of the few livelihoods open to rural peoples.

Development of a Low-Cost Solar-Powered Water Supply System for Small-Scale Drip Irrigation Farms in Sub-Saharan Africa: Dosing Tank and Bell Siphon Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 144 (7) ◽  
pp. 05018003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Oppong Danso ◽  
Thomas Atta-Darkwa ◽  
Finn Plauborg ◽  
Edward Benjamin Sabi ◽  
Yvonne Kugblenu-Darrah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Drip Irrigation ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Water Supply System ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Solar Powered

Rural Poverty and Artisanal Mining in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Issah Musah-Surugu Justice ◽  
Albert Ahenkan ◽  
Justice Nyigmah Bawole ◽  
Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Single Factor ◽  
Rural People ◽  
Artisanal Mining ◽  
Institutional Failure ◽  
Alternative Livelihood ◽  
Sub Saharan

Attempts to discuss small-scale artisanal mining (ASM) within the lenses of environment–poverty paradox have had two contending schools of thought. The first lens is the most dominant and holds that a single factor, ‘poverty’, drives people into ASM. The second lens contends that multiples of complex factors better explain who and why rural populations elect to enter employment in ASM. The literature appears to have largely focused on the single perspective, while the multi-complex web of factors has been largely ignored or at best just mentioned in passing. Employing the multi-complex perspective, this article provides a novel framework for unpacking the multiple factors that drive rural people into ASM in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We argue that a single factor (‘poverty’) is inadequate to explain why rural people choose ASM as an alternative livelihood source and any policy intervention based on such perspective may rarely succeed. Our discussion highlights that institutional failure, including foreign/external takeover, poor politico-regulatory environment and unfavourable climate have sanctioned rural people to engage in such arduous and unsafe livelihood support activity which degrades the environment. Both theoretical and empirical studies from SSA have been used to support the argument.

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