Hello!

Hello and welcome to my blog about water, development and agriculture in Africa. I’ve been fretting about making my first blog post; I’m not sure where to start! There’s a lot that can be said when looking at a whole continent through such a broad lens. I cannot hope to provide a comprehensive analysis of all the issues surrounding water, agriculture and development in Africa. Instead what I do write will hopefully find a balance between breadth and depth.

I’m coming into this blog with a background in human and development geography, rather than hydrology. I hope to bring in as much of this knowledge as I can, while also embarking on a (hopefully steep) learning curve in hydrology, and in all things agriculture.

Figure 1. Raster map of average rainfall 1995-2001 in SSA

Agriculture employs over 60% of Africa’s working population (UNEP 2009), making it an important vehicle of African development. Agriculture in Africa also accounts for 88% of total annual water withdrawals, and demand is increasing. Water scarcity and water stress are predicted to increase by 2025. Degradation of water resources including watersheds, wetlands and groundwater is also occurring (UNEP 2009).

One thing to note before I start is that Africa is a heterogenous continent. Groundwater levels, rainfall, vegetation, farming methods, levels of development...  these all differ hugely from one part of Africa to another. For this reason, I will try to avoid the pitfall many 'Westerners' fall into referring to Africa as if it was one uniform place of poverty and drought. Figure 1 illustrates, by way of example, the differences in rainfall in Africa from 1901-2005.

As a starting point, I want to learn about wetlands. I expect this blog will get more specific over time, perhaps narrowing its focus onto a specific area or theme. However, while I’m still learning the basics, I will keep it general.

References

HarvestChoice, 2011. 'Longterm Average Annual Rainfall (mm).' International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC., and University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. Available online at http://harvestchoice.org/node/4963.

United Nations Environment Programme (2009) 'Agriculture at a Crossroads: International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development' (WWW) Island Press: Washington (http://www.unep.org/dewa/agassessment/reports/subglobal/Agriculture_at_a_Crossroads_Volume%20V_Sub-Saharan%20Africa_Subglobal_Report.pdf: 22nd November 2016)