@article{You:93736,
      recid = {93736},
      author = {You, Liangzhi and Ringler, Claudia and Nelson, Gerald C.  and Wood-Sichra, Ulrike and Robertson, Richard D. and Wood,  Stanley and Guo, Zhe and Zhu, Tingju and Sun, Yan},
      title = {What is the irrigation potential for Africa? A Combined  Biophysical and Socioeconomic Approach},
      address = {2010-06},
      number = {589-2016-39817},
      series = {Discussion Paper},
      pages = {30},
      year = {2010},
      abstract = {Although irrigation in Africa has the potential to boost  agricultural productivities by at least 50 percent, food  production on the continent is almost entirely rainfed. The  area equipped for irrigation, currently slightly more than  13 million hectares, makes up just 6 percent of the total  cultivated area. Eighty-five percent of Africa’s poor live  in rural areas and mostly depend on agriculture for their  livelihoods. As a result, agricultural development is key  to ending poverty on the continent. Many development  organizations have recently proposed to significantly  increase investments in irrigation in the region. However,  the potential for irrigation investments in Africa is  highly dependent upon geographic, hydrologic, agronomic,  and economic factors that need to be taken into account  when assessing the long-term viability and sustainability  of planned projects. This paper analyzes large, dam-based  and small-scale irrigation investment needs in Africa based  on agronomic, hydrologic, and economic factors. This type  of analysis can guide country- and local-level assessment  of irrigation potential, which will be important to  agricultural and economic development in Africa.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/93736},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.93736},
}