The African Green Revolution

Sachs, Jeffrey D.

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0508-42

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…With more than half of all soils on Earth now being cultivated for food (and biofuel) crops, grazed or logged for wood, how the Earth's soils can be sustained is becoming a major scientific and policy issue 12,13 . Agriculture has so degraded regional soil fertility that the economic development of whole nations will be diminished without drastic improvements in soil management 14 . Recent compilations of data from around the world show that soil erosion under conventional agriculture exceeds both rates of soil production and geological erosion rates by several times to several orders of magnitude 13 .…”

Section: Agriculture Induced Civilizational Collapse?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Anthropocene– a 200 year record of human driven geological impacts: prelude to global climate changes and implications for South Asia

Gunatilaka

2009

J. Natn. Sci. Foundation Sri Lanka

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Human activities now rival natural geological processes in transforming the Earth's surface and initiating the current global warming phase and inevitable future climate change. The record of the past 200 years of this impact, which started off with the fossil fuel driven industrial revolution, is designated the Anthropocene. This article highlights how the change is occurring globally and also focuses on the possible effects on Sri Lanka and its people, especially with regard to water availability, soil degradation and nutrient depletion, food security, ecosystem disruption and the increasing intensity of natural hazards. A harmonious Earth system is conditional on achieving a stable population and sustainable use of resources. High population growth and poorly regulated exploitation of basic resources, which are essential for life, could result in civilizational overshoot and collapse as has happened in the past. Climate change is an undeniable reality and constitutes the most critical challenge to global society and its security. It is within the capability of modern science, technology and proven socioeconomic policies to reverse the negative trends and achieve a sustainable world. This will require great political will and leadership by all nations.

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Section: Agriculture Induced Civilizational Collapse?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Anthropocene– a 200 year record of human driven geological impacts: prelude to global climate changes and implications for South Asia

Gunatilaka

2009

J. Natn. Sci. Foundation Sri Lanka

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“…Expanded irrigation during the Green Revolutions in China and India increased food security but also severely depleted each country's water resources [19,20]. Africa may be going through a similar revolution [21,22], so it is important to consider how water-saving technologies or emission-free energy sources can be introduced while still meeting the unique needs of farmers in different market segments. This study therefore considered irrigation methods and energy sources that are water-efficient and emission-free.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Opportunities for Irrigation Systems to Meet the Specific Needs of Farmers in East Africa

Van de Zande,

Amrose,

Donlon

et al. 2023

Water

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East Africa (EA), a region facing food shortages, has very little irrigation adoption compared to the rest of the world. Increasing irrigation has been shown to increase food cultivation, so governments and private organizations have been attempting to introduce irrigation products into the EA market. Despite this support, irrigation adoption rates remain low, reflecting that existing solutions do not meet the needs of medium-to-small-scale farmers. Meeting these needs is challenging due to the diversity of farmers in EA and the minimal exploration of these differences in the literature. This study sought to elucidate some of these differences and explore whether new opportunities exist for irrigation products targeting EA farmers. An interview-based market assessment was first conducted to identify key market segments and unique values that farmers in each segment may hold for an irrigation system for each segment. Then, a techno-economic feasibility analysis was used to reveal which combinations of irrigation methods and energy sources present promising opportunities for each segment. Four distinct market segments were found. Broadly, the traditional smallholder would likely most value a system that uses photovoltaic (PV) power and manual irrigation. The semi-commercial smallholder may find promising opportunities in a system that uses PV power and butterfly sprinklers. Both the medium-scale contract farmer and the remote farm owner would likely value PV panel- and drip irrigation-based systems. These identified opportunities can guide innovation for irrigation designers as they create new systems to directly serve the needs of specific market segments, with the aim of increasing irrigation and food security in EA.

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“…Expanded irrigation, like that which came with the Green Revolutions in China and India, increased food security but depleted the countries' water resources (Wada et al, 2010;Jain et al, 2021). Africa might be going through a similar revolution (Sachs, 2008;Blaustein, 2008), so it is important to understand how water-saving technologies or emission-free energy sources can be introduced while still meeting the needs of farmers. In this study, both individual farmers' and society's needs were considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying opportunities for irrigation systems to meet the specific needs of farmers in East Africa

Zande

Amrose

Donlon

et al. 2022

Preprint

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East Africa (EA), a region facing food shortages, has very little irrigation adoption compared to the rest of the world. Increasing irrigation has been shown to increase food cultivation, so governments and private organizations have been attempting to introduce irrigation products into the EA market. Despite this support, irrigation adoption rates remain low, meaning existing solutions do not meet the needs of medium-to-small scale farmers. Meeting these needs is challenging because the types of farmers in EA are diverse, and these differences have not yet been elucidated. This study sought to do so and to understand if new opportunities exist for irrigation products targeted at this range of farmers. We first conducted an interview-based market assessment to reveal which market segments exist and what each values in an irrigation system. Then, we conducted a technical and economic feasibility analysis to reveal which irrigation methods and energy sources are most promising for each segment. Four distinct market segments were found. The traditional smallholder would most value a system that uses photovoltaic (PV) and manual irrigation. The semi-commercial smallholder’s most promising system uses PV panels and butterfly sprinklers. Both the medium-scale contract farmer and the remote farm owner would value PV panel- and drip irrigation-based systems. These identified opportunities for innovation can guide irrigation designers as they develop new systems that directly serve farmers’ needs, with the aim to increase irrigation and food security in EA.

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The African Green Revolution

Cited by 10 publications

References 34 publications

The Anthropocene– a 200 year record of human driven geological impacts: prelude to global climate changes and implications for South Asia

The Anthropocene– a 200 year record of human driven geological impacts: prelude to global climate changes and implications for South Asia

Identifying Opportunities for Irrigation Systems to Meet the Specific Needs of Farmers in East Africa

Identifying opportunities for irrigation systems to meet the specific needs of farmers in East Africa

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