Agriculture and livelihoods

The Agriculture and livelihoods research, led by Tim Foster at The University of Manchester, is investigating the role of dams in irrigation development. The work is particularly focused on Sub-Saharn Africa and the Volta river basin in Ghana.

Agriculture and livelihoods team:

  • Tim Foster, Tom Higginbottom, Roshan Adhikari, Ralitza Dimova, Sarah Redicker – University of Manchester (UK)
  • Samuel Guug – WASCAL (Ghana)
  • Sander Zwart, Benjamin Ghansah, Komlavi Akpoti – IWMI (Ghana)
  • Emmanuel Obuobie – CSIR (Ghana)

Research update video

This video was produced for the FutureDAMS annual forum (November 2020) as a summary of the team’s current research progress.

Agriculture and livelihoods research

  Title/downloadSummary
01/2021Journal articlePerformance of large-scale irrigation projects in sub-Saharan AfricaThe consortium quantified the performance of 79 African irrigation schemes. They did this by comparing planning documents to satellite-derived land cover maps to give the percentage of irrigation delivered and those that had stopped working.
06/2020WebinarAlternative models of irrigation development in GhanaIn this presentation, Roshan summarizes findings from a study, jointly conducted by University of Manchester, WASCAL, and CSIR, that seeks to understand the comparative performance of alternative existing approaches to irrigation development.
02/2020WebinarHave irrigation developments in Africa delivered the benefits they promised?In this presentation, Tom discusses findings from a FutureDAMS study quantifying how the size of large-scale irrigation schemes compares to the initial project proposals, and what factors contribute to any observed discrepancies.

The Conversation: ‘Big irrigation projects in Africa have failed to deliver. What’s needed next’

Read The Conversation article from FutureDAMS researchers Tom Higginbottom, Roshan Adhikari and Timothy Forster 'Big irrigation projects in Africa have failed to deliver. What's needed next'. The article is based on the Nature Sustainability paper Performance of...

Irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa are consistently falling short of their promises

Irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa don’t measure up to their plans. They are consistently delivering a much smaller area of irrigation or are completely broken. And things aren’t improving. Large-scale irrigation infrastructure projects are back on the...

Call for abstracts: water resources policy and management at EGU 2021

HS5.3.1: Water resources policy and management - managing trade-offs at the nexus between water, food and energy As part of the “Water Resources Policy and Management” group of sessions, Tim Foster and Roshan Adhikari are convening a session at EGU 2021 focused on...

How will Covid-19 shape the future of agricultural investments?

By Sarah Redicker and Roshan Adhikari, The Global Development Institute The Covid-19 pandemic is having wide ranging effects on agricultural systems including major disruptions in food supply chains and other shocks affecting food production, as well as rural...

Webinar: Alternative models of irrigation development in Ghana

Roshan Adhikari, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester Tuesday 30th June 2020 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KuMvOyX4_5I https://youtu.be/KuMvOyX4_5I Expansion of irrigated agriculture is central to efforts to enhance food security, reduce rural...

FutureDAMS lecture video: ‘Impacts of the Gibe III, Ethiopia: A social-ecological systems approach’

In December 2019, FututreDAMS welcomed Dr Jenny Hodbod to present 'Impacts of the Gibe III, Ethiopia: A social-ecological systems approach'. Jenny Hodbod is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Sustainability, Michigan State University, where she...

FutureDAMS lecture: Have irrigation developments in Africa delivered the benefits they promised?

Tom Higginbottom presents 'have irrigation developments in Africa delivered the benefits they promised?'. Tom is a Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering at the University of Manchester. His research uses...