Despite significant progress toward food security targets over the past couple of decades, more than 200 million people in sub-Saharan Africa remain undernourished. Increasing access to irrigation is proving to be one strategy toward reducing food insecurity on the continent.

Irrigation has been linked with higher crop yields and incomes. Small pumps, farm ponds and other affordable technologies could give millions of farmers access to water during the dry season, giving them opportunities to cultivate crops and earn money when other agricultural opportunities are limited.

Expanding irrigation is considered a major, untapped poverty alleviation strategy, and the potential for scaling up irrigation, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is enormous. An estimated 39 million hectares are suitable for irrigation, while current groundwater use accounts for less than 20 percent of the available supply.

Overcoming constraints to include women in Africa’s irrigation boom

It is good news that irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa is expanding. Yet, research by scientists from the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) is revealing that access to irrigation is not yet an opportunity equally available to all.

Women and resource-poor farmers are often constrained from enjoying the benefits of the ongoing irrigation boom due to a wide host of constraints and dynamics. WLE scientists have been working to identify specific constraints, understand why those constraints exist, and explore how they can be alleviated.

Research from the Volta and Niger river basins has identified opportunities, such as improving the design of technologies and facilitating women’s access to finance and land, as well as introducing less labor intensive irrigation technologies.

WLE researchers have developed a gender in irrigation learning and improvement tool that can help strengthen gender integration in irrigation scheme planning. The tool was tested in Malawi and Uzbekistan in 2015, and several organizations, such as the National Smallholders Association of Malawi, have subsequently expressed interest in using the tool in their planning processes. Overall, researchers hope the tool can help decision makers ensure gender equity in irrigation small and large-scale investments and policies.

Irrigation technology and capacity development for food security

WLE is also working to improve women’s access to irrigation through technological innovations, provision of investment mechanisms and capacity development.

In Ethiopia, for example, researchers have designed a “pail lifter”, a device that makes it easier for women to access water from narrow wells because its simple pulley system reduces the brute force needed to lift water to the surface. The retrieved water is stored in a nearby tank and then used for drip irrigation. In the villages where this technology is being tested, women’s improved access to water has resulted in increased production of vegetables, such as tomatoes and onions.

Likewise in Ghana, scientists have introduced irrigation technologies that use stored rainwater in a locally produced drip system to water homestead gardens. Here, both women and men farmers consider small-scale irrigation technology important to household food security, and report that they consume a percentage of the vegetables they grow. This, in turn, saves women time and money because they no longer have to go to the market to purchase vegetables to accompany meals.

Overall, scientists are beginning to explore an emerging hypothesis that access to irrigation could lead to benefits beyond improved food security, including improved nutrition, health, and resilience to climate shocks. For example, money saved as a result of growing vegetables at home instead of buying them at the market could be used to purchase more nutritious food.

In order to achieve sustainable intensification, which achieves goals beyond productivity, it is essential that agriculture benefits reach beyond measures of yield. WLE researchers continue to explore approaches and technologies that can help ensure equal access and opportunity for women and men to experience the benefits of irrigation.

Acknowledgments

The solutions presented in this article are being developed by the following projects:

• Innovation Lab for Small-Scale Irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa led by Texas A&M University, in collaboration with International Water Management Institute, International Livestock Research Institute and International Food Policy Research Institute with national partners and supported by USAID’s Feed The Future initiative.
• V9: Giving ‘latecomers’ a head start: Reorienting irrigation investments in the White Volta Basin to improve ecosystem services and the livelihoods of women and youth led by the International Water Management Institute in collaboration with other partners.