Sustainable Groundwater Development for Improved Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa by Pavelic, Paul; Villholth, Karen G.; Verma, Shilp;

Short description:

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and challenges of intensifying groundwater irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for improving smallholder agrarian livelihoods. It was originally published as a Special Issue of Water International journal.

Long description:

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and challenges of intensifying groundwater irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for improving smallholder agrarian livelihoods. Only about 3% of the groundwater resources of Sub-Saharan Africa are used for irrigated agriculture despite the subcontinent’s relative abundance of groundwater. The majority of the region’s smallholders are highly dependent on seasonal dryland cropping, making them extremely vulnerable to uncertain weather patterns and droughts. Improved irrigation capabilities through sustainable groundwater development could unleash smallholder farming and make it a major driver of economic growth, poverty reduction, climate resilience, and improved food security. So, why is groundwater so underused? Tapping into groundwater requires a major shift in farming practices and it has its own challenges and requirements – smallholder access to land and finance for irrigation infrastructure and equipment, gendered and equitable adoption options. This whole list is framed in terms of what the smallholder farmers need. Hence, this should also be put in this context, supply chains, energy access, resource availability, and institutional support.

The chapters in this book present a picture that is not only heterogeneous across the region, but also hold some common denominators. They serve to enrich the discourse and help better understand the barriers along the pathways toward the sustainable and transformative adoption of groundwater irrigation. The scientific information provided herein would be of interest to researchers, practitioners, decision makers and planners with interest in the region. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Water International journal.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Identifying the barriers and pathways forward for expanding the use of groundwater for irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa  1. Groundwater irrigation for smallholders in Sub-Saharan Africa – a synthesis of current knowledge to guide sustainable outcomes  2. Smallholder groundwater irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa: country-level estimates of development potential   3. Understanding smallholder irrigation in Sub-Saharan Africa: results of a sample survey from nine countries  4. Do policy and institutional factors explain the low levels of smallholder groundwater use in Sub-Saharan Africa?  5. Small pumps and poor farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa: an assessment of current extent of use and poverty outreach  6. Small pumps and the poor: a field survey in the Upper East Region of Ghana  7. Improving the supply chain of motor pumps to accelerate mechanized small-scale private irrigation in Zambia  8. Gender aspects of smallholder private groundwater irrigation in Ghana and Zambia  9. Integrated assessment of hydrogeology and water quality for groundwater-based irrigation development in the Raya Valley, northern Ethiopia  10. Cost-benefit analysis and ideas for cost sharing of groundwater irrigation: evidence from north-eastern Ethiopia  11. Predicting groundwater recharge in Ghana by estimating evapotranspiration  12. Groundwater potential for dry-season irrigation in north-eastern Ghana  13. Constraints and opportunities for groundwater irrigation arising from hydrologic shifts in the Iullemmeden Basin, south-western Niger