At a time when Africa's food security stands threatened, Realizing Africa's Rice Promise provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research and recommendations for dealing with future challenges. With contributions from the key scientists working on rice in Africa, this volume addresses policy, genetic diversity and improvement, sustainable productivity enhancement, innovations and value chains. The book is useful for researchers, policy makers, agricultural ministries, donors, regional and sub-regional organizations, non-governmental development organizations and universities.

This report investigates the dynamics of one of the most common agricultural water management practices of sub-Saharan Africa, i.e., small reservoirs. Small reservoirs dam permanent or temporary river flows and support multiple livelihood activities (livestock watering, crop cultivation, fisheries, small handicrafts, etc.) while providing water-related ecosystem services (soil and water conservation, flood and drought mitigation, etc.). Gathering evidence from four sub-Saharan countries, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia, this report calls for revisiting our understanding and assessment of the costs, performance and institutions for the management of small reservoirs. A more holistic analytical approach is the first step towards an integrative governance framework. This, in turn, holds the promise of sustainable management of small reservoirs.

Sub-Saharan Africa has an irrigation potential of about 42 million hectares of which only 17% is developed. Despite several investments in irrigation the growth is slow. This study aims at helping to achieve sustainable irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa, through gaining a better understanding of productive irrigation water use and effective manageme

The Volta River is one of the major rivers in Africa. In this study, a dynamic regional climate model (CCLM), a hydrological model (SWAT) and a water resource model (WEAP) were used to provide an assessment of one downscaled ‘middle impact’ climate change scenario on the performance of existing and planned irrigation and hydropower schemes. The results indicate that, by the middle of the twenty-first century, altered climate is likely to undermine the technical performance of existing and planned reservoirs, which will, in turn, affect development outcomes. Future water resources development in the basin requires interventions that bolster resilience and water security. Much more systematic planning of water storage, greater cooperation between the riparian states and consideration of innovative approaches to water storage are needed.

The AgWater Solutions Project, carried out between 2009 and 2012, focused on resolving water issues faced by smallholder farmers. The project examined existing Agricultural Water Management (AWM) solutions, together with factors that influence their adoption and scaling up. The project aimed to identify investment opportunities in AWM that have high potential to improve the incomes and food security of poor farmers. The work was undertaken in the African countries of Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia, and in the Indian States of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. This Working Paper series summarizes results and recommendations from the research carried out in each of these countries and states.