Resource information
In Sub-Saharan Africa, rainfall is
highly variable and, in many places, plainly in sufficient.
Although irrigation has the potential to boost agricultural
yields by at least 50 percent, food production in the region
is almost entirely rain-fed. The irrigated area, extending
over 6 million hectares, makes up just 5 percent of the
total cultivated area, compared to 37 percent in Asia and 14
percent in Latin America. Two-thirds of that area is in
three countries: Madagascar, South Africa, and Sudan. The
2005 Commission for Africa report, for example, called for a
doubling of the region's irrigated area by 2015. To
achieve expansion on that scale, however, we must deepen our
understanding of the locations that could benefit most-and
of the technologies best suited to those locations. One
purpose of this study of irrigation in 24 countries,
undertaken as part of the Africa infrastructure country
diagnostic, is to identify agricultural areas, where
irrigation investments promise to yield significant returns.
A related purpose is to estimate the amount and scope of
investment needed to secure those returns. Water for
irrigation can be collected in two ways: through large,
dam-based schemes, or through small projects based on
collection of run-off from rainfall.
