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END OF FAMINE IN AFRICA

Vincent Kitio


Vincent Kitio argues that the recurring famine across Africa cannot
simply be blamed on a lack of water. On the contrary, he suggests that
a number of traditional low cost, water lifting technologies for
irrigation, that have been used in various arid and semi-desert
regions of the world, would go a long way to alleviate famine across
the continent.


Recent images shown on Kenyan television could not fail to move even the most
stone-hearted among us to tears. It was heart wrenching to see women hopelessly
cuddling the lifeless bodies of their children, victims of merciless famine that
swept across the country. Many appeals were made by government, churches, and
even the corporate world, to help mitigate against the disaster.

Across the continent and to my home country of Cameroon, a similar event recurs
almost every two years. Appeals are usually made by those in authority seeking
food to help the victims. These are some the issues that leave me pondering how
my fellow learned Africans and I and I can contribute to alleviate the suffering
our people have been undergoing.

The problem of recurring famine goes deeper than the often touted reason of lack
of water to help grow food or for animal use. The water levels available in
Kenya are enough to sustain a hunger-free nation. In some parts of Cameroon,
people suffer famine despite that country having the distinction of being home
to the wettest climate on earth.

Examples abound of how others have managed to overcome famine. Despite the
scarcity of water in semi-desert and arid lands of North Africa, the Arab World,
the Mediterranean countries and part of the South East Asia, farmers there enjoy
better food security, compare to sub-Saharan Africa. This is not because their
economies are better off to enable them to easily pump water for irrigation.
Long before the discovery of fossil fuel, most of these countries already
enjoyed food security. In fact, in order to cope with the harsh climatic
conditions with little rains, inhabitants of these dry lands developed
traditional knowledge of water lifting techniques to exploit streams, rivers and
underground water for irrigation to increase food production. As a result,
farmers are able to harness available water to grow crops and harvest up to
three times a year. In this process, all available forms of energy are put into
use, such as human power, animal power, water power and wind power, to lift
water for irrigation.

These ancient water lifting technologies that have been used in Europe, the Arab
World and part of Asia for centuries are still ignored in sub-Saharan Africa.
Farming in Africa depends heavily on rainfall and human labour; and therefore,
agriculture is vulnerable to the weather. As part of a lasting solution to the
recurrent drought and famine, there is a pressing need to document, adapt and
transfer these technologies to areas suitable for their application.

Famine in Africa has reached unprecedented and disproportion levels. Images of
malnourished children, weak adults and carcasses of livestock are portrayed in
the mass media every day. All the sub-Saharan Africa countries are affected by
this drought, which many people argue could have been prevented or minimised.

Many attribute the origin of this preventable situation to poor governance,
corruption, over population, climate change and dependency syndrome on food aid
from foreign assistance. The root causes of famine remain the dependency of
African agriculture on the weather, particularly the rain. This heavy dependence
not only reduces the number of harvest per year, but also gives little freedom
to the farmer for proper planning. Several years ago, rain-fed agriculture was
not an issue in Africa, since entire communities could migrate from drought
areas to greener pastures. This is no longer the case as no free land is
available any more.

Globalisation is also contributing to the burden of famine: cheap crop imports
dominate some local markets to the detriment of local crops. This situation is
worsened by the fact that agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa depends heavily on
human labour as opposed to mechanisation. As a result, farmers need to provide
more and more effort for little output. The application of irrigation methods in
African agriculture remains very limited due to the water drudgery associated to
it. The percentage of land irrigated in Africa is the lowest of the world.

It is therefore time to seriously explore other alternatives and affordable ways
of improving traditional farming systems. Africa is endowed with permanent
rivers that flow undisturbed to the sea, passing through hectares of idle lands
suitable for agriculture. Using some of these rivers and streams to irrigate
lands will be very beneficial to present and future food security in Africa.

The high operational cost of motor pumps to increase productivity through
irrigation is simply not affordable to the majority of African farmers, and the
high cost of the pump itself is prohibitive. Drilling boreholes is another
solution, but again it is very expensive and costly. It is common knowledge that
people living in arid land have developed irrigation techniques that have
ensured them food security for centuries. This is the case of Egypt, Syria,
Iraq, Jordan and many other Arab States, India, China and Israel, just to
mention a few. Fortunately, despite the advance of modern technology, some of
this traditional or indigenous knowledge are still in use today after thousands
years of operation.

In the city of Medinet El Faiyum, also known as the Garden of Eden, situated
100km south of Cairo, over 40 waterwheels, known as Noria, are used to lift
water from the river Nile for irrigation. In this ancient city known as a garden
in the middle of the desert, farmers are able to harvest three times a year
despite the fact that the region receives only three days of rain a year. In
addition, El Faiyum Governorate is considered as the main granary of Cairo. Ef
Faiyum waterwheels were introduced several centuries ago by Ptolemic engineers.
They are still working today side by side with electric water pumps to grow
olives, vegetables, fruits, nuts, sugar cane, rice and wheat.

The Noria, is a simple wooden waterwheel with buckets which use the flow of the
river to lift water to an irrigation aqueduct above the river: water by gravity
is directed to several farms. The noria works round the clock, seven days a
week, all year round, provided that there is a flow of water. This time-tested
technology, invented more than two thousand years ago, most probably by the
Romans, has survived up until to today because of their efficiency and
effectiveness on food security. Thousands of them are still in operation in
Spain, Portugal, Syria, Iraq, Mexico, China (in China, they are made out of
bamboo tree). The city of Hama in Syria is very famous for its different norias,
built along the Orontes River, some of which are still used to irrigate urban
agriculture while others, national heritages, attract thousands of tourists
every year.

The Romans relied on irrigation systems to ensure food security in the empire.
Roman architects and engineers developed different techniques as described by
Vitruvius in 01BC in his Ten Books on Architecture to support their agriculture.
Some of these irrigation systems have survived up until today. In 1913,
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary gave this definition: 'Noria - a large
water wheel, turned by the action of a stream against its floats, and carrying
at its circumference buckets, by which water is raised and discharged into a
trough; used in Arabia, China, and elsewhere for irrigating land.'

The Norias found in Spain were introduced during the Islamic domination and have
double sets of buckets on each side of their rims, other have two wheels on the
same shaft. This allowed the system to increase the amount of water lifted.
Spanish priests introduced Norias in Mexico during the colonial period. Some of
them are still in operation in farms located in the northern part of the county.
Their buckets are made of plastic material as oppose to clay pots or wooden
buckets.

Another living testimony of this magnificent time tested technology is the
largest noria (over 20 metres) known as Al-Mohammediyyah in Hama, Syria. It was
the subject in one of the famous American television programme called Ripley's
Believe it or Not! It had the title: 'A water wheel on the Ornotes River in
Syria is still working, although it was built in the year 1000.'

Some farmers in Hama use Noria in urban agriculture, and occasionally when the
water flow is not enough to turn the waterwheel, up to five motor pumps are
needed to lift water to the aqueduct. This age-old technology is very much
appropriate to the African rural lifestyle, especially with the fuel price
increase that is already impacting negatively on the economic growth.

Persian wheel

The Persian wheel, also known as Saqiya, is a water-lifting device made of two
gear wheels and an endless chain of pots or buckets, capable of lifting water
from both shallow and deep well. The system is powered by one or two animals
(donkey, horse, camel, bullock, buffalo). Person wheels have been used since
time immoral to supply water for irrigation in Egypt, the Mediterranean
countries, India and China.

Animals revolve around the first wheel and generates horizontal rotations, which
are transferred into vertical rotations through gears and, bring up the chain of
pots (buckets)that carry water from the well and empty into a conduct. Since
animals do not like the boring revolution walk, they are blindfold. This
technology has been in use for over 2,000 years. An American geographer, who
visited Egypt in 1727, estimated that there were over 200,000 Persian wheels in
operation driven by oxen for agriculture purposes.

In the region between India and Pakistan, Persian wheels, known as Rahat in
Urdu, are traditional tools used for irrigation. Before their introduction in
the region, irrigation was a very tedious and inefficient activity, as it is
today in rural African countries, where people have to walk long distances to
fetch water. The introduction of this technology improved agricultural
productivity substantially in medieval India. As a result of a successful rural
electrification programme across India, electric pumps are gradually replacing
this time tested device. Despite the availability of modern energy, Persian
wheels remain popular in the Indian region of Rajasthan. It is estimated that
one Persian wheel can irrigate up to one hectare of land.

Sakia

Another water raising device that is worth to mention here is the Sakia. Sakia
is an ancient water-lifting technology that has been in used intensively in
Egypt, where it originated from time immemorial. The device is efficient and
effective widely used in the Nile Valley and Delta. Sakia is made of a large
hollow wheel with scoops around its periphery, and water discharges at its
centre. The diameters of the Sakia range from 2-5m; and they lift water from
0.8-1.8m respectively.

Sakias originally made of wood, are now made from galvanized sheet steel with
gears system that convert the horizontal rotation into vertical rotation. There
are mainly powered by animal, but recently some are using electric or gasoline
motors. According to the Egyptian Hydraulic Research and Experimental Station,
more than 300,000 Sakias are in use in the Nile Valley and Delta mostly driven
by animals. A Sakia of 5m diameter will lift around 36m3/h of water, while a 2m
diameter model will lift 114 m3/h.

Wind pump

Simple wind pumps as opposed to the sophisticated and costly ones that are
occasionally seen in some African rural areas are another appropriate solution
for irrigation. In the mountain plateau of Lassithi in Crete, Greece, simple
wind pumps have being used for over 400 years to irrigate land that produces
crops mainly vegetables, fruits and wheat. These wind pumps, manufactured
locally by village craftsmen, were originally made of wood and cloth. Wood was
later on replaced by metal steel in order to extend the lifespan. A decade ago,
over 10,000 windmills could be found in the plateau, each farmer owning at least
one of them to supply water for irrigation. Today, less than 2,000 are in
operation, as a result of European Union’s agricultural subsidy policies to
purchase farmer’s implements. Traditional windmills are gradually being
replaced with electric pumps. Model windmills are sold to tourists as souvenirs.
When there is wind, each windmill pumps water from a well to a tank, and the
water is later used by the farmer to irrigate their gardens by gravity. African
coastal areas and hilly regions with permanent winds are ideal place for the
application of this technology.

Conclusion

This clean and affordable technology for water lifting remains unknown to
sub-Sahara African farmers. If thousands of them are introduced in the continent
along its many rivers and streams to irrigate idle lands, food will be soon in
abundance on the local markets, in just three months: the average time to grow
and harvest vegetables badly needed to stop the spread of malnutrition.

Food aid should not be seen as a long-term solution, people should be empowered
with affordable technologies that can help them to overcome present and future
period of food shortages.

All this traditional knowledge of water lifting techniques can be domestically
manufactured with local material: no imported part is required, no fossil fuel
is needed and human power is saved.

This technology may seem very old, but its efficiency surpasses those of the
imported motor pumps. It is regrettable to note that despite the 21st century
high-tech society, one in six people have no access to clean water. Therefore
any affordable solution that can bring water closer to people should be
considered as an innovation rather than an attempt to bring development back.

To make famine history in Africa we need to introduce these affordable,
tangible, proven, and traditional knowledge from the arid world to African
farmers. The creativity of Africa's informal sector will innovate and adapt the
technology to different local social and economic conditions, aiming at ensuring
lasting food security.

While exploring modern technology to address the famine situation in Africa, it
will be wise to consider the know-how that is in the public domain and does not
require any copyright to be negotiated. Since the technologies described here
are in operation, as we speak, in Egypt and Syria, it would be highly
appreciated if stakeholders in the fight against hunger in Africa visit Medina
El Faiyum in Egypt and Hama in Syria to witness how these simple traditional
technologies can turn arid land into forest. This will be the beginning of the
end of famine in Africa.

* A Cameroonian national, Vincent Kitio is an architect and expert in renewable
energy and appropriate technologies for sustainable development, working at the
Nairobi headquarters of UN-HABITAT, as an energy advisor.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at
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