Food security for sub-Saharan Africa: does water scarcity limit the options?

John W. Gowing

Land Use and Water Resources Research, 2003, vol. 03, 7

Abstract: Future food security can be achieved only by delivering substantial increases in agricultural production, but this has important implications for water availability. Water scarcity is not currently a major issue in sub-Saharan Africa, but it would be a mistake to neglect this issue. It would be a mistake also to assume that only plans for irrigated agriculture are affected. It should be recognised that a land-use decision is also a water-use decision. A plan based on improving rain-fed agriculture through adoption of measures to make better use of rainfall brings trade-offs in that there may be less runoff to satisfy the water needs of downstream users and environmental functions. Planning for future food security requires integrated analysis of land-use and water resources issues.

Keywords: Resource/Energy; Economics; and; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:luawrr:47864

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.47864

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