Food Security and Water Challenges

George Marechera

Business Development Manager

African Agricultural Technology FoundationC/O ILRI, P.O. Box 30709 Nairobi, 00100 Kenya

Agribusiness Forum

3 – 6 October 2010

It rains heavily in

three months in a

year in most SSA

After 6 months

Water Challenges

• Climate change affecting agricultural productivity

• Agriculture accounts for 70% of freshwater use

• Crop demand for water increase by 70 – 110 % by

2050

• Irrigated land to increase by 40 million ha by 2050

• Rainfed agriculture decreasing by 10% every year

due to climate change

• Water cost increasing at alarming rate

Water challenges in Africa

1. Drought incidences in SSA increasing leading to

• Reduced yeilds

• Crop failure

• Reduction in land available for agriculture

• US$ 30 – 50 billion due to droughts world wide

2. Demands for water has continued to increase leading to the depletion of ground water supplies

After 8 months

Yet there are water technologies to

address these challenges

Negotiate access and deliver proprietary agriculturaltechnologies for sustainable use by African resource-

poor smallholder farmers.

African Agricultural Technology

Foundation (AATF)

MissionWhy we Exist

Prosperous farmers and a food secure Africa,

VisionWhat We Want to Achieve

Why food Security

Access to food by all people at all times.

• World population – 9 billion by 2050

• Need for 50% increase in food

• Chronic hunger in 2010 (0.97 billion)

• Under nutrition (>40 million increase / yr)

• Problem of under nutrition (>200 million Children) 2010

• High food prices

• Limited access to appropriate technology

Constraints not related

to technologyConstraints related

to technology

Challenges to food security

Appropriate technologies and policies

•Inadequate land

•Land tenure

•Inefficient markets

•Lack of infrastructure

•Poor government policy on agriculture

•Poor rural finance

•Inefficient research

•Poor extension service

•Poor health and high population

•Lack of access to improved varieties

•Poor soils and soil management

•Lack of fertilizers

•Climatic variability

•Poor water resources management

•Poor post harvest handling

•Lack of mechanization

•Labour shortages

•Inadequate energy sources

•Poor natural resources management

•Poor animal health, nutrition and

reproduction

How does AATF do it?

Technology

identification

and access

R&D(proof of concept,

field testing)

Production

of Inputs

Extension/

Distribution(Input and

know-how

delivery)

Agricultural

production

Post harvest

Storage

Processing

Commer-

cialization

of farm

outputs

Supply/Technology Delivery Demand/Market linkages

DE

MA

ND

FO

R

FO

OD

PR

OD

UC

TS

Public/

PrivatePublic Private

Private/

PublicFarmers Private Private

better tools, better harvest, better lives

Our Projects

• Striga control in maize

• Insect resistant cowpea

• Banana bacterial wilt

• Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

• Nitrogen, Water Use Efficient & Salt Tolerant Rice

• Aflatoxin control in maize and peanuts

• Cassava mechanization

• Relevance of Chinese agricultural technologies to addressing productivity constraints

• Trends monitoring – R&D, regulatory environment, biotechnology, seed systems, market linkages and value chains

Current Coverage

• Kenya

• Uganda

• Tanzania

• Nigeria

• Ghana

• Mozambique

• South Africa

• Malawi

• Mali

• Burkina Faso

• Zimbabwe

• Senegal

• Niger

14

Watermelon

Maize

Potato

Sugar cane

Enhancing water productivity in agriculture

AATF WEMA & NEWEST Projects

• Drought affecting agriculture in SSA

• Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

(Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa)

• Nitrogen, Water Use Efficient & Salt Tolerant Rice (NEWEST)

(Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania)

• Partnership (PPP) to develop drought tolerant varieties

• Stabilization of yields

• Currently doing Confined Field Trials (CFT)

Food Secure Africa

George Marechera

Business Development Manager

African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)

g.marechera@aatf-africa.org

www.aatf-africa.org

Thank you