World Bank suggests new measure to address effects of drought in African dry-lands

11th May 2016

By: African News Agency

  

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The World Bank says irrigation, improved crop production technologies, soil fertility management and adding trees to current farming systems could help reduce the impact of drought in Africa’s dry-lands by half and help save an estimated 5.5-million people annually from food insecurity.

In a new report entitled “Confronting Drought in Africa’s Dry-lands: Opportunities for Enhancing Resilience”, the World Bank and its partners said integrated landscape management practices, better management of livestock, agriculture and natural resources could enhance the drought-resilience capabilities of East and West African dry-lands, which are home to an estimated 300-million people.

“Dry-lands, which are hot spots of natural disasters, are at the core of Africa’s development challenge. If we are to achieve poverty reduction, it is imperative to better manage the impacts of extreme weather and climate variability, as the number of people living in dry-lands and competing for scarce resources will increase,” said Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa.

According to Raffaelo Cervigni, a World Bank Lead Environmental Economist and co-author of the report, recent research has found that investing in interventions that increase the sustainability and productivity of herding and farming could help improve prospects for development among dry-land communities in East and West Africa.

However, the report noted that a significant percentage of populations living in African dry-lands would remain vulnerable to drought and its after-shocks well beyond 2030, despite the spread of resilience-enhancing interventions. It called on governments to provide support by way of social safety nets and double investments in human and physical capital to facilitate a gradual social transition to livelihoods that are less reliant on natural resources for survival.

“To protect livestock-keeping households, productivity-enhancing interventions such as providing improved animal health services, ensuring early off-take of young male animals, de-stocking quickly in the face of approaching drought, and ensuring improved access to grazing areas, could raise the share of resilient households by 50 percent.

“Improved crop production technologies, soil fertility management and adding trees to current farming systems can also deliver resilience benefits by boosting agricultural productivity and increasing drought and heat tolerance of crops. Trees growing in crop fields, in particular, can serve as sources of fertilizer while reducing water and heat stress affecting crops. Irrigation can also provide an important buffer against droughts,” the report concluded.

The report estimated that irrigation development was technically feasible and financially viable on 5 to 9-million hectares in the dry-lands of the Horn, East and West Africa. Other suggested counter-drought interventions include integrated landscape management to restore degraded areas to functional and productive ecosystems and the reduction of trade barriers to make food more available and more affordable to dry-land communities.

Edited by African News Agency

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