Can Africa adopt an Asian Approach to Irrigation Management?

“Can West Africa’s and South Asia’s recent achievement of improving food security exemplify a paradigm for continental success at eradicating water and food insecurities?”.  Sound familiar? This is a quote from my first blog post which I promised to touch upon.

A story a man once shared with me about his trip to Bangladesh has stuck with me and demonstrates the changes that took place which revolutionized crop productivity and irrigation systems. He recalled it being in January (the dry season) yet he was astonished to see the fields so fallow. It was explained to him that groundwater was in abundance a few feet below the land’s surface, however, much like Africa today, there was no affordable way to access the water. Years later he revisited the same land and was mesmerized by the equipment being used and the resulting fields of green. Treadle pumps were in full use and the locals were apparently learning about investments into such equipment.  Their $35 investment in the treadle pump returned them around triple after just the first harvest. Africa has begun to invest in small scale equipment in the hope they can increase productivity just as we have witnessed in southern Asia.

Asia seems to be moving in the right direction when we think about famine alleviation and food productivity increases. Just like Africa, this region of the world was riddled with disease and famine and extreme floods epitomized dwindling harvest yields. Fast forward a decade or two and Asia has arguably become the biggest beneficiary of the Green Revolution. A major component of this revolution was the way in which irrigation schemes were implemented into farming methods.

Centralized irrigation schemes are generally large in size and built around big water storage dams. One limiting problem with centralized irrigation schemes are the negative environmental externalities that arise as a result of their continued use.

What can be done instead? Decentralized irrigation …

This is a much smaller, individualized system which can assist farmers in a more bespoke nature whilst avoiding socio-environmental problems which systems such as dams create. Vermillion (1997) describes the rationale for decentralization in irrigation as…

“Government bureaucracies lack the incentives and responsiveness to optimize management performance while farmers have a direct interest in enhancing and sustaining the quality and cost efficiency of irrigation management. When farmers are given the authority and incentives to act collectively, they are more likely to improve irrigation operations because it is in their direct interest to do so.”

In the same regard I believe that local farmers who have a direct interest in farming, irrigation systems and productivity are best equipped to optimize the efficiency of a basin/region. Lam (1998) who has researched such management methods in Nepal found that farmer managed systems consistently outperform government managed systems.

Having spoken previously about conflict in the Nile river basin I believe that responsibility and empowerment should be shifting towards the local farmers in Africa to achieve greater unified success. If the likes Philippines and Nepal have found this successful, decentralization in Africa may not be far away.