SEATTLE — The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have collaborated to fund a project called Adapting Irrigation to Climate Change (AICCA).

The AICCA project is tasked with proactively combating the devastating effects of climate change with a simple goal: to aid the West and Central Africa region with adaptive irrigation techniques. The goal may seem disproportionate to the larger issue of climate change, but the FAO is concerned with the interplay between poverty, climate change and irrigation.

This interplay can be observed in the Gambia, where agriculture is the second-largest sector and accounts for 30 percent of GDP and 44 percent of the workforce. The Gambia’s GDP per capita is about $441.

The FAO explains that just 1 percent of agricultural land in the Gambia is irrigated, and low agricultural productivity is one of the causes of rural poverty. Gambia’s farmers are dependent on natural sources of water, such the River Gambia and rainfall.

The final piece, the effects of climate change, can be understood by the reliance on natural sources of water. According to the FAO, “Dry spells and significant climate events such as devastating droughts and floods are hitting smallholders more frequently.” These climate events are causing the productivity of the agriculture sector to fall even lower.

The initial goal of adapting irrigation is to stabilize West and Central Africa’s agriculture sector, provide greater yield, and improve the lives of those in poverty.

The AICCA project is currently in the pilot phase in four countries: Gambia, Ivory Coast, Mali and Niger. During this phase, the project is focused on the investments necessary to implement and manage irrigation.

The four pilot countries have their respective needs, in regards to preserving the landscape, which are explored further on the AICCA webpage. Per country, the webpage also explores the unique challenges of adapting irrigation and the techniques being implemented.

There is no current information on the project’s continuation into other phases, which may lie in the success of the pilot countries. The world’s effort to combat climate change, even now, doesn’t seem adequate and the success of AICCA hinges on the climate not becoming drastically worst.

– Yosef Flowers

Photo: Flickr