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Tag Archive for: Water Management

Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Compliance, Food Security, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Sustainable Agriculture

NOAA Pilots GIS Project in West Africa: A Boost for Sustainable Agriculture

Climate change is already posing challenges to agricultural productivity worldwide, and the sector is likely to encounter severe water woes as this intensifies. However, water management, which is crucial for sustainable agriculture, improved rural livelihoods and food security, has not yet been sufficiently harnessed and employed across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Consequently, immense opportunities for growth and economic

Picture showing an irrigation system- green plants being watered.

Credit: A Guide To Irrigation Methods — Irrigation Systems

advancement are being missed. Proper irrigation is vital for sustained agricultural growth, according to the FAO. The UN agency says efficient irrigation practices could result in increased crop yields of up to 400%. Yet, farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa, who are most dependent on rainfall, are hamstrung by a landscape with the fewest rainfall monitoring stations in the world, which are also complicated to read. This challenge is compounded by an unreliable climate information dissemination mechanism.

But, as with all challenges in the sector, new technologies are emerging that could provide better information for planning. Rainwatch, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded climate information system, seems set to help West African farmers, in particular, to overcome their water management challenges.

NOAA says Rainwatch uses GIS to “monitor monsoon rainfall and tracks season rainfall attributes”. It automatically streamlines rainfall data management, processing and visualization. The user-firendly tool has interactive faces, symbols and self-explanatory names. This simplicity eliminates the need for external assistance, including satellite information, to make use of the tool.

The successful 2009 piloting of the project, coupled with the abundant returns to farmers in Niger last year, a country with chronic water management issues, shows that there is great potential behind scaling-up this project. A key challenge will be getting farmers to use the technology, but the demonstrable benefits will prove to be a strong selling point.

The NOAA funded project received support from the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development and CIMMS.

June 16, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Irrigation and Water, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Tanzania’s Bold ICT for Irrigation Strategy

Consistent with the view that the crafting and implementation of bold and strategic ICT policies is key for sustained agricultural development in the developing world, I have pointed out the need for improved policy frameworks in a range of countries. However, it is also important to commend those developing states that continue to make progress in this regard. Tanzania’s national e-government policy is one such example. This policy framework has enabled the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) to develop a long-term ICT strategy, which includes using GIS, radio and cell phones, to deliver irrigation and water services.

A Guide To Irrigation Methods — Irrigation Systems

The nascent strategy aims to achieve two pivotal things by 2014. First, it intends to help managers and engineers identify areas suitable for and in need of irrigation. The lack of reliable information and poor data collection processes has been a key challenge. To combat this, MoWI’s ICT strategy paves the way for the use of remote sensing and GIS technology to gather information on soil quality and available water resources. According to Daily News Online, Joash Nytambehead, head of the ICT unit at MoWI, says a system has been developed to capture data on all water points in the country. It involves visits to water points where GPS receivers are used to record and later collate coordinates. This is being complemented by efforts to map cellphone and internet connectivity, and access to traditional ICTs such as radio, across the east-African country.

Cellphones are currently being used by field officers to collect and instantaneously relay data on the condition of pumps and the types of crops being grown, which promises to strengthen the planning process. Managers will be better able to make use of GIS and field information to efficiently determine priority sites and the nature of irrigation systems that are needed. This is a major positive development because integrated water management is lacking in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the greatest dependence on rainfall, yet home to poor water management procedures and irrigation services.

The second and equally essential aim of Tanzania’s ICT strategy is that it should enable the state to efficiently inform the population about efforts to improve irrigation services. This is crucial because too often great projects flop when intended beneficiaries are left in the dark. The efforts to map mobile and internet connectivity, as well as, access to radio and other traditional ICTs, will allow the state to plot who may be target via the web, text massaging versus radio/TV programs and PSAs. This strategy is also expected to pave the way for streamlining services across offices and departments involved in the project.

While not a panacea, this policy position is a bold step in the right direction. The mix of ICTs that are being used to improve Tanzanian’s access to irrigation services is relevant and culturally appropriate.

June 15, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Food Security, Health, Irrigation and Water, Originally posted on the GBI Portal, Sustainable Agriculture

U.S Leadership on Global Food Security

U.S leadership on global food security will get a major boost for the fiscal year 2011. This follows strong bipartisan support from Congress for a $1.15 billion budget to tackle food security issues around the world. Last week, USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah announced that nearly $1 billion will go towards Feed the Future, a global initiative launched by President Obama in 2009 to tackle hunger through sustained and endogenous multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Dr. Raj said, “$90 million will be spent on strengthening our nutrition programming”. Since the world food crisis in 2008, which caused riots in several countries and toppled governments, food security and agriculture grew in prominence on the international agenda.

He says, pending congressional approval, the agency will contribute $100 million to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, a joint multilateral trust fund established in partnership with the World Bank, to address food security and agriculture globally. Since its conception in 2009, the fund attracted nearly $1 billion from donors, and allocated over $330 million to eight countries.

Conflict, natural disasters and the slow integration of ICT into agricultural policy remains a major impediment to food security and the improvement of livelihoods. Nearly 2 billion people worldwide are unable to grow or get enough food to eat. Most of those affected by chronic food security problems live in rustic areas, where they have limited information about where to access and trade food, in the least developed countries.

The World Bank has warned that the problem is likely to become even more intractable in the next two decades. According to the Bank’s report, Reengaging in Agricultural Water Management: Challenges and Options, “by 2030 food demand will double as world population increases by an additional two billion people. The increase in food demand will come mostly from developing countries.” The publication says improved food security depends on increased agricultural productivity and improved water management across the developing world.

June 2, 2011/by actualize

Tag Archive for: Water Management

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