An introduction: water and food in Africa

Before delving into the issues of water and food security in Africa, I'd like to begin the first blog with a meditation on the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a narrative about starvation in Africa. The main character, William, utilises his meagre knowledge to build a primitive windmill to pump water, even using his family's most precious bicycle, providing an oasis to his people. I could sense people struggling in Africa with water and a food, in irrigating their land to survive, and in their yearning for knowledge in the face of the famine. The image of Africa has always been one of hardship in contrast to us, who enjoy access to resources. This reminds me of Wainaina's piece, where he critiqued the way that Western nations conceptualise Africa, urging us to abandon the preconceived notion that Africa is "backward" and instead draw the outlines of the romantic and evocative. In light of this, I would  write posts about the food and water situations and shape the promising way of development in Africa.

Figure1: the poster of the movie by Akiko Stehrenberger

Life comes from water, which is also used drink and a main component to produce food (Taylor, 2014). The amount of freshwater withdrawals in majority of African countries is far below what Falkenmark  has indicated as the water stress index (WSI).  The UN Sustainable development goals (SDGs) reflect the basic development concerns pragmatically at the human-environment interactions: SDG2: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all (2.1) and SDG6: By 2030, achieve universal, equitable access to safe water (6.1) and sanitation (6.2). These have emphasised not just the importance of water and food production, but also managing and distributing both. We must embrace the complexity of the link between water and food in order to fully appreciate the key physical and human factors for the development in Africa.

Figure 2: Sustainable Development Goals                                             

Why is Africa? 

In terms of economics, Africa is the poorest region. The highest rates of population growth and urbanization  are also seen there. Meanwhile, it has the lowest proportions of populations with access to safe water and the lowest per capita rates of food production. Physically, Africa experiences extremes of rain and drought, with the most variable river discharge worldwide. It is ascribed to the precipitation, varying significantly during the year according to the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) location (shown in Figure3). Limited irrigation withdrawals as sub-Saharan Africa's heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture, which leaves many areas vulnerable to drought and food insecurity. It is aggravated by climate changing, which reduces regular precipitation but intensify heavy precipitation. Non-linearities caused as 10% less rainfall and 17%–50% reduction in river discharge.The growing share of irrigated land for food security in a warmer world would put more strain on the human and environment without other adaptation.

Figure 3: Modern rainfall variability over Africa 

The blog will explore how food and water are shaped in Africa by a complicated network of political, economic, cultural, social, and physical variables, particularly for impoverished people. These elements influence how the politics of decision-making, the power of accessibility to surface and groundwater, adaptations and so on should all be considered when tackling the water and food crises with more sustainable methods.