Rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture in the Senegal River Valley following the 2008 food price crisis

Abstract

The expansion of irrigated croplands throughout the 20th century boosted global agricultural productivity, yet limited improvement occurred in sub-Saharan Africa where many irrigation schemes and policies under-delivered. We mapped the distribution of croplands under active irrigation between 1986 and 2020 for one of Africa’s largest and most important transboundary river basins – the Senegal River Valley (SRV); using Landsat imagery with a Random Forest classifier and Hidden Markov Model. We document two distinct epochs of irrigation development. Initially, a period of stagnation where less than 900 ha per year was added, lasting until 2008. Followed by a boom phase of rapidly expanding intensively irrigated production with ∼ 9,000 ha per year added for the last 12 years. These epochs overlap with national agricultural policy frameworks: the 1980s laissez-faire policies limited state involvement in agriculture and promoted Asian imports; followed by a more interventionist period focused on promoting domestic production following the food price crisis of 2008.

Circular Economy Approaches in the Palm Oil Industry: Enhancing Profitability through Waste Reduction and Product Diversification

“…Efficient harvesting and processing, pivotal in minimizing waste generation, involve selective harvesting methods that target only ripe fruit bunches, reducing unproductive harvest and minimizing the volume of EFB generated [71,72]. Enhanced oil extraction techniques reduce residual oil in by-products, while precision agriculture ensures targeted resource application, minimizing unnecessary input usage [73,74]. Integrated pest management reduces reliance on chemical pesticides, contributing to a healthier environment [75,76].…”

Assessing climate resilience in rice production: measuring the impact of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s IWRM scheme in the Senegal River Valley using remote sensing and machine learning

“…This model was applied to each pixel in our dataset for the years 2015 to 2023, each containing 9 data points. Starting probabilities were derived from our classification model's output, with transition probabilities set at 0.1, following the approach in both Abercrombie and Friedl (2016) and Higginbottom et al (2023).…”

“…Redicker et al (2022) further highlight the ineffectiveness of irrigation schemes (as high as 83% of schemes) across west Africa for many reasons, including not including the livelihood goals of smallholder farmers. Higginbottom et al (2023) note sub-Saharan Africa's modest gains in agricultural productivity despite numerous irrigation schemes, criticizing the historical laissez-faire agricultural policy.…”

The Relationship between Changes in Hydro-Climate Factors and Maize Crop Production in the Equatorial African Region from 1980 to 2021

“…The impact of climate change on maize production or yields has also not been comprehensively studied across SSA [7,21]. The few studies on the impacts of climate change on crop production or yield (i.e., focusing on precipitation and temperature variables) were limited to single-country analyses [22,[32][33][34]. Since climate variables have different dynamics, their impact is still uncertain considering that, to date, not many national statistical analyses have been conducted on climate dynamics and crop production in the Equatorial Africa region, where food insecurity still persists [8].…”