Stephen Ngigi (2009) proposes that groundwater could aid smallholders in adapting to such increased climate variability. Smallholders are the poorest farmers, generally owning less than two hectares of land. Not only can smallholder irrigation help climate change adaption, but it can promote poverty alleviation, labour productivity, general economic development and rural employment (Villhoth, 2013). Villhoth excellently summarises the current knowledge regarding groundwater irrigation for smallholders, which makes up the majority of sub-Saharan Africa's employment and agricultural produce. However, as a summary of so many groundwater thematic-areas in only 32 pages it is limited in detail.
So why can groundwater help? Farmers tend to favour groundwater because of its consistently. Due to the nature of the ITCZ's annual variability, rivers in Africa tend to be much less consistent than elsewhere on the planet (see three selected rivers below).
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| Taylor (2006), Chapter 8 |
Groundwater produces a constant supply of water to smallholder farmers in a region with unmatched climate variability, problem solved? Not quite. These groundwater resources are not necessarily renewable or sustainable. These fossil groundwater systems have been created by historic rainfall and regeneration rates from contemporary water generation are tiny compared to the potential extraction... perhaps sounds similar to another resource we use?
Already over 80% of domestic rural water supplies in sub-Saharan Africa are from groundwater, and South East Asia has proven what groundwater abstraction can do to agricultural productivity. The added control over supply is the clear benefit and explains the drive for groundwater pumps, but are they a sustainable solution? I'll be looking into the sustainable feasibility of groundwater pumps in Africa in a later post.
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The blog is very well illustrated and makes good use of the literature around climate change and adaptation. It is developing well as your first few posts 'set the scene' well. I support your proposed shift to focus on specific adaptive strategies as reflected in the most recent post. Try to encourage greater interaction on your blog by getting some GEOG3038 fellow students to comment and you can comment on theirs in return. The exchanges can be very good for developing your further and more critically.
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ReplyDeleteAs you say groundwater may not be a renewable resource shouldn't we find out how much there is in an area before we use it? Technically possible but maybe expensive.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, yes understanding the volume of groundwater reserves is a key piece of information for each town/city/region/country considering it. The rate of replenishment is also important from a sustainability perspective to understand the rate at which this will offset abstraction. The feasibility of groundwater as a sustainable solution is very much down to the specific area, and there isn't a fix that can be applied to all areas (unfortunately!).
ReplyDeleteRegarding 'Technically possible but expensive', in many areas groundwater can be extremely affordable! Groundwater can be complex, huge abstraction schemes, such as providing water for London from the Chilterns, or women collection water from a well in SSA.
To further answer your question, I'll write my next post on a few examples of areas that are already using groundwater.