Water and Development in Africa

In the previous post, on the Sahel region, I kept reading and noticing the fact that there are significant levels of inequality between farmers. This blog post looks at the factors that are contributing to this inequality alongside some potential solutions.  Agriculture naturally is a critical sector within the economy for many African countries, due to the fact it employs a considerable amount of the population as well as contributing to a high amount of GDP (The World Bank, 2022) . Although this is the case, there is still a wide amount of inequality among farmers within Africa, with some farmers facing a more significant challenge than others hence hindering their ability to succeed.  One of the main factors that contributes to inequality among farmers in Africa is the varying access to land (Moyo, 2015) . In many countries, there are a small number of 'elites' who ultimately earn a disproportionate amount go land, while the majority of farmers involved have limited access t

In this next blog post, I am going to talk about the importance of the Sahelian Paradox.  The Sahel is a region in Africa that spans from Mauritius and Senegal in the West to Sudan and Eritea in the East.                                           Figure 1 - Map Illustrating the Sahel Region (Source) One of the key issues facing the Sahel today is the so - called, Sahelian Paradox. This refers to the observed pattern of food security and malnutrition that is always increasing in the Sahel region of Africa despite the increased agricultural productivity (Hendrik, 2012) . This paradox has major implications for food security and economic development, gaining attention from researchers and policy makers (Mahe, 2022) .  A crucial factor in contributing to the Sahelian Paradox is the high degree of inequality in the manner of distribution of agricultural resources and income (Adekunle et al., 2020) . Although some farmers in the region have benefitted from innovations in a technical manner a

This next post is ultimately going to talk about and address the African food crisis. Although Africa is home to a diverse range of agricultural systems and resources, there are many African countries who are continuing to struggle with key issues like food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty, hence affecting millions across the continent.  So, let's talk about one of the main contributing factors to the African food crisis. This is the lack of access to food sources that are affordable, diverse and nutritious (Burch, Fans and Frison 2011) . In many rural places, there are instances where smallholder farmers often lack the resources and the infrastructure that is required to produce and sell crops, hence leading to a reliance on imported or processed foods, which is more expensive and less nutritious (Dzvimbo, Monga and Mashizha, 2017) . This lack of access to healthy food options can result in malnutrition, particularly for the more vulnerable members of society, namely women, ch

I come from an Indian family, where the majority of them migrated from India to Africa before coming to the UK. This has subsequently resulted in there being a strong connection to Africa and its culture within my family. One country in particular is Ghana, and I now have many family members from there hence the interest in Ghana specifically. This post is slightly unrelated to the others, but after researching and writing about this, I was able to give  Agriculture, as a practice is declining gradually in Ghana, but it still holds a pivotal role in their economy. The relationship between different agricultural practices and environmental sustainability poses extreme challenges, but various development countries in Africa including Ghana, have given this topic very little attention.                                                            Figure 1 - Agricultural Practices in Ghana  (Source) The impact of agricultural practices on sustainability in an environmental manner is becoming

The whole theme of water and development in Africa is one that I hold very close to my heart. At the age of 11, I went to Kenya to visit family and on this trip we went to a very rural farm and I found it fascinating to see how crops were grown and the methods they had involving irrigation. Although, at that time it was just an initial interest, school and university decisions have allowed me to develop this interest and transform it into a more concrete one.  This first blog post I would like to address what I know already from a general standpoint and what I plan on talking about in future posts. One incident that stood out to me considerably was the Cape Town water crisis. The situation that a city that I have studied and heard all about was in a position where it could potentially have no water supply fascinated me.  What is food security? It is ultimately describes a situation in which people have the access in terms of physical, social and economic access to safe and nutritious f