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Abstract
Future food security can be achieved only by delivering substantial increases in agricultural production,
but this has important implications for water availability. Water scarcity is not currently a major issue
in sub-Saharan Africa, but it would be a mistake to neglect this issue. It would be a mistake also to
assume that only plans for irrigated agriculture are affected. It should be recognised that a land-use
decision is also a water-use decision. A plan based on improving rain-fed agriculture through adoption
of measures to make better use of rainfall brings trade-offs in that there may be less runoff to satisfy the
water needs of downstream users and environmental functions. Planning for future food security
requires integrated analysis of land-use and water resources issues.