Scientists look underground for a solution to feed the ever growing population in Africa

LISTEN NOW: Prof Richard Taylor, the Principal Investigator for the GroFutures project explains what the project is all about in SoundCloud interview.

Africa’s population is projected to hit 2.4 billion come the year 2050. This means that demand for food is going to increase exponentially. But the challenge is that this is happening in the wake of the changing climatic conditions with a threat of reduced agricultural productivity, and the shrinking of arable land due to tough climatic conditions, quest for development, and human settlement.

To bridge the gap, scientists among other experts have pointed out that there is urgent need for investment in irrigation. This was the magic bullet for the green revolution that took place in Asia.

But the question is; where will the water for irrigation come from?

This is because since the 1960s, during the green revolution in Asia, there has been depletion of the groundwater in many countries due to over abstraction, and this is already a huge crisis.

To ensure sustainability of groundwater use in Africa and to avoid mistakes made during the green revolution in Asia, UPGro scientists have taken the challenge first, to study and understand how different major aquifers on the continent recharge, how they respond to different climatic shocks and extremes, and they are already looking for appropriate ways of boosting the recharge for more sustainability.

Through a project known as Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa (GroFutures), a team of 40 scientists from Africa and abroad have teamed up to develop a scientific basis and participatory management processes by which groundwater resources can be used sustainably for poverty alleviation.

Also read: Avoiding the Mistakes of the Asian Green Revolution in Africa

photo (Credit Grofutures: Combined Benin-Niger GroFutures field team with supporters working in Goulbi-Maradi (left); Early Career scientists under GroFutures, Fabrice Lawson (UAC/IRD, Benin), Jean-Baptist Gnonhoue (IRD, Benin), Rabilou Mahaman (UAMN, Niger), and Boukari Issoufou (UAMN, Niger) running MRS experiments in Goulbi-Maradi (right).)