Smallholder farmers need improved stake in Nile's development

ADDIS ABABA - A new book finds that the Nile river, together with its associated tributaries and rainfall, could provide 11 countries – including a new country, South Sudan, and the drought-plagued countries of the Horn of Africa – with enough water to support a vibrant agriculture sector, but that the poor in the region who rely on the river for their food and incomes risk missing out on these benefits without effective and inclusive water management policies.

The Nile River Basin: Water, Agriculture, Governance and Livelihoods, published by the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), incorporates new research and analysis to provide the most comprehensive analysis yet of the water, agriculture, governance and poverty challenges facing policymakers in the countries that rely on the water flowing through one of Africa's most important basins. The book also argues that better cooperation among the riparian countries is required to share this precious resource.

"This book will change the way people think about the world's longest river," said Dr Vladimir Smakhtin, water availability and access theme leader at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and one of the book's co-authors. "For the first time, hydrologists, economists, agriculturalists and social scientists have pooled their research to focus on agriculture and food security along the Nile to give a comprehensive and timely overview of the development challenges facing the river. With significant new dams and development works being planned, and South Sudan joining the river basin countries, the need for solid, science-based evidence to inform policy decisions has never been greater."

Agriculture, the economic bedrock of all 11 Nile countries, and the most important source of income for the majority of the region's people, is under increased pressure to feed the basin's burgeoning population—already 180 million people, half of which live below the poverty line. According to the book, investing in a set of water management approaches known as Agricultural Water Management (AWM), which include irrigation and rainwater collection, could help this water-scarce region grow enough food despite these dry growing conditions.

"Improved AWM, which the book shows is so key to the region's economic growth, food security and poverty reduction, must be better integrated into the region's agricultural policies, where it currently receives scant attention," said Dr Seleshi Bekele, senior water resources and climate specialist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and one of the book's co-authors. "It is tempting for thNIKE