The World Health Organization estimates that one in three people lack sufficient access to water in Africa. Climate change has driven increases in air temperature and changes in precipitation, causing droughts and localized flooding. Additionally, by 2050 one-fourth of the world’s population will be African, requiring a more developed, integrated water resource management (IWRM) approach.
For more than 40 years, USADF has funded African-led, -designed, and -managed projects that promote equitable access to and sustainable management of water resources for inclusive economic growth that benefits underserved communities across Africa. Below are four examples of USADF's work in water security:
Example 1: In 2011, USADF launched the Turkana Food Security Program to boost food security and reduce local communities’ dependence on food aid in Kenya’s highly marginalized, arid, and cattle raid-prone region. USADF has awarded more than US$10 million thus far to 53 agriculture and energy grantees in Turkana focused on mostly fishing, irrigated agriculture, and livestock under this program. These projects have directly impacted more than 17,000 people (58% of whom are women) and indirectly benefitted more than 88,000 people.
Several USADF grant awards under the program are designed to improve irrigation systems for smallholder farmers, concentrated along two main rivers using open canal irrigation systems under crumbling infrastructure. None of the irrigation canals were lined, resulting in considerable water waste through seepage.
Grant activities relocated water intake to more appropriate locations that would not be washed away during flooding. For example, USADF provided Morulem Water Users Association US$337,000 through two grants to construct an entirely new water intake 5km from Morulem's farm, ensuring adequate water supplies reach the farm. In addition, several activities supported the lining of primary irrigation canals.
In the case of Morulem, USADF funding allowed for the lining of 3km of primary canals to control siltation and prevent water loss through seepage. As a result of increased water flow to the farm, the area under cultivation increased from 750 acres to 1,132 acres, production increased from 7 tons to 12 tons per acre per year, and the number of farmer members increased from 1,500 to 2,264. In addition, the increased production and market access allowed Morulem Water Users Association to become a cereal supplier for the World Food Program.
Example 2: USADF is providing up to US$10 million in catalytic seed funding to African graduates of the Department of State's Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) between 2020 and 2025 to help them succeed as entrepreneurs. One of the inaugural USADF AWE grantees in Zimbabwe is Delima Consolidated Resources (Delcor Drilling), led by social entrepreneur Violet Mazuku.
Much of Zimbabwe suffers a severe water and sanitation crisis due to drought and poor water management. The water shortage has become an annual problem that negatively impacts clinics, hospitals, homes, businesses, and education facilities. Over half of the population in rural communities doesn't have access to clean water or toilets. Additionally, women and girls walk 4km (~2.5m), on average, to fetch water every day.
With USADF grant funding, Delcor Drilling is increasing access to water by drilling, cleaning, installing, and rehabilitating boreholes, equipping each with a solar pump to ensure a steady supply of power to pump the water. Accessible portable water is estimated to eradicate at least 60 percent of community poverty amongst 360 women who can use the water from the boreholes for small-scale farming using drip irrigation. The boreholes will also be a source of water for livestock and domestic use.
Example 3: The shortage of fish in Tanzania is 480,000 tons per year due to decreased wild catch and increased population. Aquaculture has the potential to cater to the resulting demand, but it faces several constraints such as a lack of fish seeds (fish fingerlings), fish feed, and appropriate technology. According to a recent Inception Study of Aquaculture Tanzania report, with the rapid growth of tilapia farmers reaching 18,000, the demand for quality and reliable tilapia fish seeds across the country is 30 million seeds a year—much more than the current supply of 5 million seeds. USADF's investment in Aqua-Farms Organization's solution will decrease the deficiency by 4 percent.
With USADF's financial and technical assistance, Aqua-Farms Organization, led by a U.S. government Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI) alumnus, is setting up a commercial hatchery that will incorporate modern aquaponics tilapia brooding system. This will combine a profitable tilapia hatchery operation with a hydroponic farm design, creating a high output, organic brooding aquaponic farm. The hydroponic farm design utilizes local materials, costs less than US$300, and grows several hundred kilograms of vegetables annually in four square meters. In addition, it is so efficient that an individual can farm year-round using 90 percent less water than conventional soil farming regardless of the season or consistency in power supply, establish a fully sustainable on-site fish fingerling supply, and create employment opportunities. Through this hatchery, Aqua-Farms Organization can supply approximately 500,000 fingerlings per year. In the future, this design and operation could be licensed to 30 fish farmers per year and continue to reduce the fish seed deficiency at a rate of 6 percent while conserving water resources.
Example 4: USADF and the Government of Senegal, via its Délégation générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide des Femmes et des Jeunes (DER), entered into a five-year US$20 million blended finance partnership in 2019 to invest in youth entrepreneurs, farmer cooperatives, producer associations, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Senegal. Several of the grants under the partnership are focused on improving irrigation for farmers.
One farmer's organization, Deggo Bok Jom 2 de Thiagar, facilitates rice and vegetable production for its members by acting as an intermediary for access to land, agricultural inputs, and agricultural services such as ploughing, consulting, and harvesting. It has 127 hectares of land, 70 of which are developed and utilized each year. Deggo Bock Jom 2 distributes the developed plots among the members for their use, distributes inputs, and manages the cultivated plots' irrigation and development. At the end of the season, each farmer reimburses the organization for any inputs received and other production-related expenses incurred.
Deggo Bok Jom 2 is experiencing difficulties in exploiting its 70-hectare section of plots due to inadequate irrigation and drainage infrastructure and equipment and wants to extend its cultivable area by developing its remaining 57 hectares. USADF grant funding facilitates GIE's rehabilitation of the 70-hectacre portion, the purchase of irrigation equipment, the basic development of the remaining hectares, and agricultural training in rice and tomato production techniques through safe pesticide usage and alternative solutions.
Finally, to commemorate World Water Day 2022, we developed the below photo exhibition to highlight USADF’s water activities and make the invisible groundwater, visible.
To view the above exhibition:
- Click on "Enter Exhibition" to get started
- In the top right corner, you will see ellipses (three lines), click on that and select "Enter Fullscreen" for best viewing options
- In full screen, click on the first picture and then use the "Previous" and "Next" buttons to navigate.
- To view the picture names and captions, click on either the "Info" icon or the circle with "i" in the middle.