Africa agreement hard to stomach

G8 food initiative undermined by failure on water and sanitation

David Parry/PA

As G8 and African leaders launched a key initiative to tackle the food crisis, End Water Poverty warned that the failure to deliver a promised plan on water and sanitation will derail the battle against malnutrition, and fail to prevent 4,000 children dying of diarrhoea each day.

A staggering 50% of child deaths from malnutrition are caused by repeated bouts of diarrhoea, due to unsafe water and sanitation.

Khumbuzile Zuma, a South African spokesperson for End Water Poverty said “Fighting hunger without providing clean water is like building a house without foundations. For the people of Africa the G8 have undoubtedly failed.

The G8 have abandoned the poor at the very time they are needed most. They had long promised that this summit would see firm action to end the water and sanitation crisis, but they have chosen not to deliver on a commitment that could have transformed the lives of millions.”

Oliver Cumming from WaterAid said “Given that 30% of all child deaths are caused by poor water and sanitation, it is seriously short-sighted of the G8 to ignore this critical issue. The cost of this neglect will ultimately be paid for by the poor, whose health, education and nutrition will all be hurt by the G8’s gross poverty of ambition.”

Paul Cook from Tearfund said “Since the last G8 summit, 1.4 million children have died needlessly of diarrhoea. How many more lives will be lost before the G8 finally decide that enough is enough?”

The intention to launch a G8-Africa Water Partnership was also announced today in a statement between African and G8 leaders. Originally promised to be a centrepiece of the Summit, it contained no specific actions and no extra finance.

A G8 progress report outlining actions on water since the launch of the G8 Evian Water Plan in 2003 shows that the bulk of reported funding increases have gone to Iraq and other regions of political and economic interest rather those of greatest need.

Globally 884 million people have no access to clean water, and 2.5 billion have no access to safe sanitation.

In addition to its impact on nutrition and child mortality, 443 million school days have been lost to poor water and sanitation, while GDP in Africa has been reduced by 5%.

Notes to editors

Oliver Cumming and Khumbuzile Zuma are both at the G8 Summit and available for interview.

For all media requests contact Chloe Irvine +44 75 1494 1577 OR +44 777 1654 544 OR Steve Cockburn +44 79 2008 0855 (all based in L’Aquila).

Khumbuzile Zuma is a water and sanitation worker and campaigner from South Africa. She has worked on various projects with universities and civil society organizations in South Africa, the Netherlands and Tanzania. She is a board member of the End Water Poverty campaign, which is campaign supported by over 150 NGOs in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

The AfriPump

INCREASE WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION

NCREASE WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION
with Low-cost irrigation technology for small farmers

The green revolution has tripled world grain production using fertilizers and irrigation but has now come to limits like availability of water, salinity, unsustainable mechanization, energy consumption, etc. 1 Billion people still experience hunger and the world population is growing, so new approaches and technologies are needed.

Barriers for small farmers
Some 75% of the farmers in developing countries have less than 5 Hectares of land and a yearly income of US$ 300 to US$ 800. A single disastrous crop failure can turn them into landless laborers or send them into the urban ghetto. They have no access to technology like tractors or harvesters. Irrigation pumps to pump from rivers or shallow wells cost US$ 300 or more. Motorized pump options for wells deeper than 8 m. costs US$ 800 or more. Small farmers normally cannot afford these technologies, and subsidies on wells and irrigation schemes often have not worked, or only reached bigger farmers. In general technology designers do not see small farmers as customers.

Low cost irrigation from shallow wells
However , the potential of small farmers to increase production by irrigation is enormous and using the right varieties and technologies, food production worldwide could be tripled, but as Paul Polak of IDE states:
"The most important barrier is lack of affordable irrigation technology".
Modern irrigation technology has been developed for the middle and high income farmers that have enough land. However there are promising developments for farmers with a few acres. For instance in Bangladesh a hand sludged well and a "Treadle pump", (pedal powered) cost US$ 20. With low cost of labor and rising cost of fuel, irrigating with this Treadle pump is much cheaper than with a motor pump. The organization IDE informs that more than one million farmers already irrigate rice or dry season vegetables with Treadle pumps and so earn an additional income of US$ 100 annum year, adding a total of US$ 100 million to the national income of Bangladesh.

Low cost irrigation from deep wells
The Treadle pump works in areas with water levels less than 8 meters below ground level but for deeper wells, a different pump technology is needed. For wells down to 70 m. the Rope pump is now considered a good option. Similar to the Treadle pump the Rope pump has low production costs and is easy to install and maintain. Because its high pumping capacity (40 l/min. for a 10 m. well) the use of the hand Rope pump for small scale irrigation is increasing. For larger scale irrigation, Rope pump models "powered by" wind, horse, pedals or motors have capacities of 60 to 180 liters per minute. From wells of 10 to 40 meters deep, 2 to 0.5 Ha. can be irrigated with furrow irrigation. If the newer low-pressure drip irrigation technology is used irrigated areas could be doubled.

MORE systems

This is an interesting approach to reaching small farmers in Africa.

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Women are not the Problem-they are the solution along with men

Saima Muhammad, shown with her daughter Javaria (seated), lives near Lahore, Pakistan. She was routinely beaten by her husband until she started a successful embroidery business.


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• The Best Way to Fight Poverty and Extremism Is to Educate and Empower WomeThn and Girls
  

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