* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Christian Rouxel
The effects of climate change have increased uncertainty about family farms in Africa being able to produce a minimum yield of vegetables. Especially in the Sahel region, the limited availably of water resources for irrigation and the effects of climate change increase this threat.
As a result, the European irrigation industry has developed modern drip irrigation systems to help farmers in the Sahel cultivate crops using less water. This allows water to be saved for other activities such as drinking, cooking and washing.
Because they deliver water to the roots of the crops, drip irrigation kits help boost crop yields while using much less water than traditional flooding of fields, which leads to high water loss from evaporation.
The kits also require less water pressure and are designed to generate less clogging than other available systems for African family farmers.
The Sahel region in Africa, due to its water scarcity, was selected in 2003 to test 900 drip irrigation kits in a pilot group to measure the efficiency of this irrigation technology versus the traditional flooding approach.
The benefits of the drip irrigation technology were evident in increased yields. For instance, tomato farmers who used drip irrigation experienced yields on average of 7,200 kg, up from an average of 2,000 kg for the same-sized farms using conventional irrigation. The increased yields boosted revenues by more than 500 percent.
Manufacturers from Israel, Europe, India and the United States have been involved in programs to deliver these irrigation kits to farmers. Some programs were supported by the World Bank while others were administered directly through local leaders and non-governmental organisations. The best results have been obtained when small farmers' associations are directly involved.
Most of the kits offered are designed to cover between 80 to 500 square meters. User manuals include pictures and icons so that farmers who are not literate can still make use of them. The kit also includes suggestions on how to construct simple reservoirs if the area does not already have them.
To further ensure successful uptake, researchers involved with the pilot study provided additional training to 30 of the local farmers on proper use and maintenance of the irrigation systems into the future.
These drip irrigation kits show that modern irrigation technology, initially developed for European farmers on small family farms, can work in Africa and help smallholder farmers adapt to the effects of climate change, particularly in already vulnerable areas such as the Sahel.
Christian Rouxel is director of the European Irrigation Association. He recently spoke at a Farming First panel debate during the Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, organised by the Dutch government.
