Identifying the barriers and pathways forward for expanding the use of groundwater for irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) must significantly increase the area under irrigation for a host of pressing reasons that include addressing rural poverty, improving food security and countering droughts and famines. What remains less well known is the role that groundwater will play within the portfolio of potential irrigation strategies. Surface-water systems requiring large-scale public investments, which have captured most of the attention to date, do not always perform adequately, and are ill suited to targeting widely dispersed smallholder farming communities. Groundwater reserves are thought to be vast and broadly accessible, but estimates of their potential are still uncertain and the best development strategies are not always clear. Major challenges emerge on a number of fronts, notably inadequate knowledge of aquifer systems, the costs of drilling wells and operating pumps, and the level of technical and institutional capacity and overall governance in place to support sustainable management