Food in Hot Water

In my previous few blog posts, I have been exploring how different measures such as changing crops and traditional ecological knowledge can improve productivity. For this one, the focus will be on an impediment - water rights, using South Africa as a case study. Agriculture demands the greatest share of water resources compared to industrial and domestic uses, particularly in the form of irrigation. As covered before, physical water scarcity may not plague Africa but rather, economic water scarcity encumbers such use. Sometimes, water laws further entangle the issue of access and can be discriminatory towards certain groups, especially the poor. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalent system is that of issuing permits, whereby users can apply for legal usage of water and managers can dictate the terms of usage if the application is authorised (vanKoppen & Schreiner, 2014) . In theory at the state level, such regulation safeguards against the overexploitation of water resources fr...

This week, I will be uncovering the uses of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in the West African context and potential beneficial ramifications. I will examine how TEK has been used to create solutions that can be implemented by small scale farmers to provide increased productivity and greater food security.  Toledo (2002) and Berkes (2004) refer to Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) as “the body of knowledge, beliefs, traditions, practices, institutions, and worldviews developed and sustained by indigenous, peasant, and local communities in interaction with their biophysical environment” (Gómez-Baggethun,Corbera & Reyes-García, 2013) . With industrial farming and much greater intensification of ecological resources being consumed, TEK is being considered as an alternative for greater sustainability (Fraser, Frausin & Jarvis,2014) . This stems from TEK’s usage of locally derived and renewable resources that priorities nutrient recycling (Fraser, Frausin ...

Previously, I covered how Kenya has become relatively successfully in the horticulture industry and what motivated farmers to increase productivity using increased irrigation. In this blog post, I will be examining a case study of Zambia and cassava planting, which is one of the staples eaten on the African continent. The background and role cassava plays in food security, and how it fits in with climate change implications will be explored. In recent years, East Africa has been experiencing a climate paradox, whereby projections in rainfall increase have been met by more frequent drought years instead (Lyon, 2014) .   This has triggered debate whether anthropogenic sources have caused this precipitation decrease (Lyon, 2014) . Whether the current drought years are an anomaly or a more permanent feature, climate change unequivocally forces many countries to adapt to changes in precipitation and temperature. This makes East African countries particularly vulnerable to this...