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Showing posts from January, 2022

Post 7: Concluding Thoughts

  Post 7: Concluding Thoughts Over the past three months, I have become immersed in the issues surrounding food and water development in Africa, and I have begun to piece together the general state of affairs there. In my opinion, Africa has a wealth of potential, but it has so far failed to come together as one to harness that potential. I believe, that through greater communication and joint development initiatives, as seen with the Senegal river, all can benefit. This is especially true in the case of food production amidst a backdrop of water scarcity.   To end with one final point to demonstrate my belief in a clearer way it is necessary to draw on the theory of comparative advantage. Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage states that countries should specialise in the production of a good for which they have the lowest opportunity cost (cost benefit foregone from the next best alternative). This theory was proven by the Bernhofen-Brown test in the mid-nineteenth c...

Land Distribution

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  The state of African Agriculture There has been a long history of debate over the benefits of large-scale vs smallholder farms (Hall, Scoones and Tsikata, 2017). Agriculture is an economic activity, contributing to economic growth, attracting investment and driving a number of related industries (Pretty et al., 2014). But the efficiency of a farm is critical given the increasing population in Africa, global socio-economic development requiring higher living standards (wider range of food) and the loss of arable land to processes like desertification (Döös, 2002). The demand for food requires an effective use of land, and given what we have already covered in regard to limitations of water availability in regions across Africa (Gaye and Tindimugaya, 2019) , the management of land, for what and by whom is gaining renewed importance. The Case for small farms Over 60% of people in sub-Saharan Africa are smallholder farmers, contributing around 23% of GDP for the region. (Goedde,...

Transboundary River Basins and Geopolitical Management

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Egypt’s relationship with the river Nile is perceived by them to be of existential importance (Wheeler et al., 2018). 80% of the ater of the Nile however comes from Ethiopia, (Erikh, 2002; cited in Wheeler et al., 2018) and is responsible for the annual floods which bring water for drinking and irrigation, as well as rich silts that nourish the earth of the Nile River basin to the advancement of agricultural activity for the Egyptians. Whilst the UN watercourse convention (Savenjie and Van der Zaag, 2008) , seeks to ensure the rights to each riparian country to equitable shares of any benefits, some examples demonstrate potential challenges of achieving this in practice. Case Study One: The Nile Despite strong seasonal variability, Ethiopia’s wet highlands provide water to the comparatively barren sands of Egypt (World Bank, 2021). Amidst anticipation of an intensification of the hydrological cycle, means wet regions of Africa get wetter, and dry regions drier (Hegerl et al., 2019)...

Rivers Part One: River Basin Management

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  The Short-FALLS of African Rivers    Rivers are perhaps the clearest way of linking water and development. Rivers offer a source of water for irrigation, fishing grounds as well as a supply of nutrient-rich silts which are essential for agricultural activities (Bohannon, 2010).  The potential of rivers for development in Africa is demonstrated in the history books, through the development of "hydraulic civilisations" (Wittfogel 1957) such as the ancient Egyptians. Rivers in Africa share the main benefit of rivers everywhere- they take water from places with a lot of water to places where there is less. However, one difference with Africa’s rivers unlike others elsewhere, such as the Rhine, is that many of Africa’s comprise of huge waterfalls and unnavigable rapids. This not only prevented historic contact between regions and subsequently stunted the trade of goods (i.e. food), but a less tangible ramification of this was that it prevented the exchang...