PLANNING WATER MANAGEMENT FOR SECURE FOOD PRODUCTION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region with a high population density and fast population growth. Low economic status, poverty and food insecurity characterize the region. Most countries are regular food aid recipients. As the population growth rate is higher than the growth in food production, future conditions may become even worse, irrespective of the potential resources within the region. Land and water resources are quite sufficient to support food production. Only 16.8% (which is about 4% of the arable land) of the potentially irrigable land has been developed for irrigated agriculture. Drainage development is almost Untouched and involves only 0.4% of the agricultural area. In order to get an impression of promisin g options and possible constraints, with the help of the policy dialogue model PODIUM, this paper analyses the development of water management scenarios to improve food production in the region. Six sample countries - Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan - were considered for the analysis. Three water management scenarios were considered: focus on rainfed agriculture, focus on irrigated agriculture and a mixed scenario. The results of the analysis show that, with proper water management approaches, food security in the region is achievable. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.