Water resources development in Africa: a review and synthesis of issues, potentials, and strategies for the future

This paper analyzes how water resources development and water policy reform can be deployed to address the twin problems of food insecurity and water scarcity in Africa and, in particular, Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper reviews the current status of water supply and demand, and the existing and potential irrigated land base in Africa; reviews the performance of existing irrigation systems and assesses the magnitude of the potential contribution and cost-effectiveness of new irrigation development to future food production in Africa; and explores the potential for water conservation through demand management. Meeting the challenges of food security and water scarcity in Africa will require both selective development and exploitation of new water supplies and comprehensive policy reform that encourages efficient use of existing supplies. The most significant reforms will involve changing the institutional and legal environment in which water is supplied to one that empowers water users to make their own decisions regarding the resource. Irrigation development will not be the main source of food production growth in Africa, but increased investment in irrigation could have an important role in reducing projected cereal import demands. Rehabilitation and improvement of existing irrigation systems can be an attractive option, but projects must be selected carefully.Water conservation., Water resources development Management., Water supply., Food security., Irrigation Management Research.,

Economic incentives and comparative advantage in Indonesian food crop production:

In Indonesia production of food crops grew an impressive 4.3 percent a year between 1978 and 1988, largely as a result of favorable government pricing, research, and investment policies toward rice and other crops. In recent years, however, the high costs of subsidies to the government and the increasing competition for scarce resources among commodities have caused Indonesian policymakers to take a fresh look at these policies in order to determine what is needed in a changing economic environment. What policies should the government pursue for rice and other major food crops? Should the government provide incentives or investments to promote rice as an export crop? What have been the effects of government policies on the international competitiveness of other commodities such as corn or cassava? Is there a continuing role for large input subsidies, or should these subsidies be eliminated? What investments are appropriate in the food crop sector? The report examines trends in the government policies and production of five major food crops (rice, corn, soybeans, sugar, and cassava) in Indonesia; analyzes the effects of government input-output pricing policies on domestic production incentives for these food crops; and assesses their relative comparative advantage under the three trade regimes of import substitution, interregional trade, and export promotion.Agricultural policy Indonesia., Produce trade Government policy Indonesia., Food crops Economic aspects Indonesia., Food production Economic aspects Indonesia.,

Climate change and Egypt’s agriculture

With climate change, Egypt’s already arid climate will face even higher temperatures and lower rainfall over key agricultural areas, requiring further urgent adaptation investments. Data from three general circulation models of climate were used to better understand the likely effects of climate changes on Egypt’s agricultural sector. The findings show largely adverse biophysical effects of climate change by 2050. Compared to a no-climate change scenario, yields for food crops are projected to decline by over 10 percent by 2050 due to higher temperatures and water stress as well as increased salinity of irrigation water. The highest biophysical yield declines are estimated for maize, sugar crops, and fruits and vegetables. Moreover, due to the country’s dependence on food imports, Egypt is not only affected by climate change impacts at home, but also by impacts in other food producing countries. Climate change-induced increases in food prices will reduce Egypt’s food import demand, while also dampening demand for Egypt’s exports. The implications for Egypt are tighter food markets with both reduced domestic production and increased difficulties to import food making it more difficult to augment domestic food supplies. This situation suggests the need for investments in climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector. Global cooperation to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions is also warranted given the high cost to Egypt’s society from adverse climate change impacts worldwide.Non-PRIFPRI1; CRP2; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; EgyptSSP; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC)DSGD; EPTD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

Upscaling climate smart agriculture (CSA) technologies in India to 2050: A modeling approach

PRIFPRI4; CRP7SAR; EPTDCGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS

The impact of investment in agricultural research and development and agricultural productivity

This study was conducted to determine the impact on world prices, agricultural commodities production, and food security and nutrition of raising the annual growth in agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) from the current estimate of 1.6 percent to 2 percent by 2030 through investment in agricultural research and development (R&D). The study also compared three R&D investment strategies: (1) gradual TFP increase, (2) accelerated TFP increase, and (3) developing-countries-only TFP increase. Results show that compared with the baseline scenario of business as usual, R&D investment strategies to increase TFP to 2 percent can lower world prices of cereals and meat by as much as 17 and 15 percent, respectively, as well as increase area planted in crops by 2.4 percent and crop yields by 8.5 percent by 2030. World cereal and meat production can also be increased by 12.5 and 3.9 percent, respectively, and consumption by 4.5 and 3.9 percent, respectively. The number of malnourished children can be reduced by 7 million (5.4 percent), and the population at risk of hunger can be reduced by 160 million (23.2 percent).Non-PRIFPRI1; CRP2; A Ensuring Sustainable food production; A.1 Global Futures and Strategic ForesightEPTD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

Climate change adaptation strategies for Egypt’s agricultural sector: A ‘suite of technologies’ approach

Climate change negatively affects Egypt’s agriculture sector. This brief summarizes the results of a modeling exercise to examine a range of climate change adaptation approaches to counteract agricultural productivity declines. Rather than simulating a single technology, a ‘suite of technologies’ approach was used. For several food crops, none of the technology suites, individually or in combination, are shown to counteract the adverse impacts of climate change. For these crops, which include maize, oilseeds, pulses, and sugar, even stacking of technologies will not return productivity to pre-climate change levels. However, for fruits and vegetables, potatoes, rice, and wheat, crops less adversely affected by climate change, increased investments in climate changeresponsive crop traits, soil fertility improvement, water management, crop protection, or a combination of these technologies can counteract the adverse impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity. From a policy perspective, strong cooperation with the rest of the world on climate change adaptation will ultimately benefit Egyptian consumers. Doing so will reduce disruption of global food markets, which is of particular importance for countries, like Egypt, that are well integrated into those markets. In particular, Egypt’s economy and all Egyptian consumers benefit from the importation of lower-value, high water-consuming cereals under the hotter and drier conditions that can be expected in Egypt in the future due to climate change.Non-PRIFPRI1; CRP2; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC); EgyptSSP; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesDSGD; EPTD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

A partial equilibrium approach to modelling alternative agricultural futures under climate change

PRIFPRI5; CRP2; CRP7; PACCEPTD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM); CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS

Climate-resilience policies and investments for Egypt’s agriculture sector: Sustaining productivity and food security

The importance of a resilient agriculture sector in providing food security, livelihoods, and household income was highlighted in many countries by the recent pandemic, as was the capacity of the sector to cushion the negative impacts of the subsequent economic slowdown. This has been the case in Egypt, where agriculture has been resilient to the health crisis in comparison with the service and industry sectors (Breisinger et al. 2020). However, the sector’s resiliency is gradually being corroded by climate change, with lasting, harmful effects for agriculture and food systems.PRIFPRI1; CRP5; CRP2; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC); EgyptSSPEPTD; DSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: A REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS OF ISSUES, POTENTIALS, AND STRATEGIES FOR THE FUTURE

This paper analyzes how water resources development and water policy reform can be deployed to address the twin problems of food insecurity and water scarcity in Africa and, in particular, Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper reviews the current status of water supply and demand, and the existing and potential irrigated land base in Africa; reviews the performance of existing irrigation systems and assesses the magnitude of the potential contribution and cost-effectiveness of new irrigation development to future food production in Africa; and explores the potential for water conservation through demand management. Meeting the challenges of food security and water scarcity in Africa will require both selective development and exploitation of new water supplies and comprehensive policy reform that encourages efficient use of existing supplies. The most significant reforms will involve changing the institutional and legal environment in which water is supplied to one that empowers water users to make their own decisions regarding the resource. Irrigation development will not be the main source of food production growth in Africa, but increased investment in irrigation could have an important role in reducing projected cereal import demands. Rehabilitation and improvement of existing irrigation systems can be an attractive option, but projects must be selected carefully

Scope and Sustainability of Cooperation in Transboundary Water Sharing of the Volta River

The paper explores the scope and sustainability of a self-enforcing cooperative agreement in the framework of a game theoretic model, where the upstream and downstream country, Burkina Faso and Ghana respectively in the Volta River Basin, bargain over the level of water abstraction in the upstream. In the model we consider the case where the downstream country, Ghana, offers a discounted price for energy export to the upstream country, Burkina Faso, to restrict its water abstraction rate in the upstream. The paper examines the benefits and sustainability of such self-enforcing cooperative arrangements between Ghana and Burkina Faso given stochastic uncertainty in the river flow. The findings of the paper suggest that at the present condition, the marginal benefit of Burkina Faso from increasing the water abstraction is much higher than that of Ghana’s marginal loss. However, the paper finds that if both countries’ water abstraction rates are at a much higher level, then the marginal loss of Ghana increases phenomenally from similar increase in water abstraction rate by Burkina Faso. Under such circumstances, there is an opportunity for Ghana to provide side payments in terms of discounted export price of power in order to motivate Burkina Faso to restrict water abstraction.Bargaining, Cooperation, Transboundary, Uncertainty, Volta River Basin, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,