Potential for Sustainable Irrigation towards Food Self-Sufficiency in Sierra Leone | Chapter 08 | Emerging Challenges in Agriculture and Food Science Vol. 3

 Since the beginning of time, the world's population has been increasing, and what was formerly unimportant has now become a major challenge of our day: food production, security, and self-sufficiency. Water is the next most important necessity for agricultural production after land is accessible and the weather is favourable. Despite the fact that water covers two-thirds of the earth's surface, 70% of it is unusable, particularly for crop cultivation. The three most prevalent sources of water utilised in agricultural production are rainwater, surface water, and groundwater. While any of these resources may be rare in other regions of the world, Sierra Leone has plenty of all three. The availability of resources, however, is only one aspect of resource development. The efficient harnessing of an accessible resource to adequately serve an intended purpose is the other very essential aspect of resource development. Today, the 17 percent of arable land that is irrigated produces more than 40% of the world's food. This illustrates irrigated agriculture's potential for food production, food security, and food self-sufficiency. Despite this strong evidence, just 0.6 percent of Sierra Leone's arable land (74 percent of the total land area) is irrigated. The goal of this study was to determine Sierra Leone's food security and self-sufficiency potential. Given current land productivity, the study found that just 31% of available water resources were required to irrigate only 19% of arable land in Sierra Leone to achieve food self-sufficiency. Investing in water resources and arable land for national irrigation can secure enough food crop output to support exports. This will relieve the country's strain to build the necessary forex to sustain import businesses.

Author(S) Details

Juana P. Moiwo
Department of Agricultural Engineering, School of Technology, Njala University, Njala Campus, Sierra Leone.

Mohamed M. Blango
Department of Agricultural Engineering, School of Technology, Njala University, Njala Campus, Sierra Leone.

Yahaya K. Kawa
Department of Chemistry, School of Environmental Sciences, Njala University, Njala Campus, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Alhaji M. H. Conteh
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Technology, Njala University, Njala Campus, Sierra Leone.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/ECAFS-V3/article/view/5514