Water and Food in Africa: Introduction

This is the first blog post of many that will be posted over the next few months. These will focus on the challenges and issues that arise from Water and Food in Africa.

Water resources

Water is a complex resource with a variety of different indicators and thresholds for water stress and scarcity. Water scarcity can be described as a lack of renewable freshwater resources that do not meet demand. A prolonged time period of water scarcity can be defined as water stress where human and ecological needs cannot be met. Falkenmark's water stress index (WSI) linked food and famine to water suggesting that a single person needs 1000m³ of water a year. When this amount of water is not available water stress occurs. This WSI has been widely used due to its simplicity but it "fundamentally misrepresents both freshwater resources and demand in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa". This misrepresentation comes from the variability of water in Africa. Central Africa around the equator tends to have the highest levels of precipitation. Areas 20° north and south of the equator tend to have the lowest precipitation. However, the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) leads to the rainy season being in July for northern Africa and January for southern Africa. This water that falls can be stored in a variety of locations such as lakes, rivers, dams, and as groundwater in aquifers or aquitards. As rainfall and its storage as freshwater are extremely variable farmers need to take into account the local climate and environment to efficiently produce food. When accounting for future climate change this variability is likely to increase. Decisions will have to be made when mitigating these climatic changes and allocating resources to improve and maintain food production. Stakeholders such as governments, local small-scale farmers, and large-scale industrial farmers will have different priorities. Conflicts can occur when compromises are made, and the needs of some stakeholders are unfulfilled. This makes the topic of water and food important and interesting to explore.

Figure 1: Rainfall variability over Africa with ITCZ movements in A (January) and B (August).

Writing about Africa

Before further investigating water and food in Africa it is important to identify biases and stereotypes when writing. Headlines containing phrases like "drought and hunger crisis" are extremely common in western media. This homogenizes Africa to be a place of solely drought and famine. However, much of Africa's diverse climate, culture, and history are absent in this media. These depictions are highlighted in Wainaina's How to Write About Africa where people are presented without any agency. This is harmful as it justifies the White Saviour Complex where only during a "crisis" are "solutions" put in place. These often only address the short-term needs of people and long-term structural issues are not addressed. Therefore, it is important to be mindful of how Africa is presented in future blog posts.