Post on 23-Jan-2018
Sustainable irrigation: the missing link in Africa’s green
revolution
Timothy Olalekan Williams
Director, Africa
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• Contextual background
• Status of irrigation in SSA
• Current issues in irrigation in SSA
• Drivers of change
• SIGSSA Initiative
• Indicators of success of irrigation in SSA
STATUS OF IRRIGATION IN SSA
• Less than 4% of cultivated land is irrigated
• Average agricultural withdrawals are 3% of renewable
water resources and groundwater use is < 20% of
renewable supplies
• CAADP Pillar 1 aims to extend land under SLM and
reliable water control systems by 20 million ha by 2015
(target not achieved).
CURRENT ISSUES IN IRRIGATION IN SSA
Opportunities
• An underutilized endowment of water resources
• Huge potential for expansion of area under irrigation
• Increased demand for high value products responsive to irrigation
• Renewed public and donor interest in irrigation
• Investors acknowledgement of need for R4D evidence to guide irrigation investment
• Commitment of African governments to SDGs.
CURRENT ISSUES IN IRRIGATION IN SSA
Challenges
• Underperformance in both rainfed and irrigated systems
• Low investment in hydraulic infrastructure and in the development and management of water resources
• Inappropriate governance and institutional arrangements in public irrigation schemes
• Impact of climate change on water resources
• Inadequate public sector investment in irrigation capacity development and data collection, analysis and dissemination to guide decision making.
Sustainable Irrigation Growth in Sub-
Saharan Africa (SIGSSA) Initiative
• A new partnership initiative championed by IWMI
• Objective is to assist SSA countries to achieve SDGs
aimed at ending hunger and poverty and promoting
sustainable agriculture
• It will capitalize on IWMI’s three decades of research
into methods and tools to support and guide new public
and private sector investment in irrigation and monitor
and evaluate the performance of irrigation systems.
SIGSSA: Main Entry Points
• Understanding scale-effect of irrigation- Situational analysis to establish baseline data on area under each type
of irrigation system and determine pattern of evolution and growth
- Analyze scale effect, including tradeoffs/complementarities between
small-, medium- and large-scale irrigation
- Comparative analysis of land and water productivity of new and existing
irrigation schemes
• Ensuring sustainable irrigation outcomes - Improving irrigation systems performance from a biophysical, economic
and institutional perspective.
SIGSSA: Main Entry Points
• Analyzing and evaluating new innovations in irrigation
development - PPP in irrigation, growth corridors, FDI in agricultural land
• Build the next generation of irrigators and irrigation
managers - Knowledge management and capacity building across all aspects of
irrigation implementation and management.
INDICATORS OF SUCCESS
• Expansion of irrigated area in SSA
• Increased public and private sector investment in
irrigation development to improve agricultural
productivity, food and nutrition security and ecosystem
services
• AWM and irrigation increasingly used as instruments to
enhance resilience of African agriculture to climate
change
INDICATORS OF SUCCESS (CONTINUED)
• Effective gender-sensitive water rights systems for
farmers
• Introduction of policies, economic incentives and
institutional arrangements that will ensure continuous,
long-term sustainable development of irrigation in SSA
• Improved human and institutional capacity to implement
sustainable irrigation development programs.
ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION
• What strategies are needed to mobilize political support at
continental, regional, national and local government level for
irrigation development?
• How do we deploy new technologies and lessons learned from
successful and failed irrigation schemes to ensure that new public
and private sector investments flowing into irrigation sector achieve
desired outcomes and impacts?