Water security is defined as reliable, equitable, and sustainable access to water for productive use. Like food and nutrition security, water security is a growing concern in African food systems and is a driving factor for the food availability and nutrition outcomes across Southern Africa & Africa, where smallholder farming is dominant. In Southern Africa, and the rest of the African continent, smallholder farmers produce a significant portion of food. Nevertheless, smallholder farmers face water scarcity, poor water governance, resulting in deeper vulnerability to climate change and nutrition insecurity. Climate change impact such as droughts, erratic rainfall patterns and limited access to water, further illuminates the nexus between agricultural productivity, water insecurity and household food and nutrition security. Galvanising efforts on improving water security can improve food and nutrition outcomes of smallholder farmers including diet diversity where indigenous crops are considered due to their drought tolerance traits. Development strategies were water management is incorporated in nutrition outcomes in the water-food-agriculture nexus are gaining momentum. Such strategies state that water is not limited to agricultural production but also to agri-nutrition linkages where nutrition outcomes and livelihood options are addressed and expanded. Regrettably, despite these emerging advances, infrastructural, water and land governance and institutional limitations persist. Such complex challenges require transdisciplinary sciences that incorporate agricultural production, economics, hydrology, nutrition, climate adaptation, and policy innovation to address water security. Therefore, research institutions need to support and reward transdisciplinary research and capacity building that is aimed at transformative and collaborative research that focuses on climate smart yet nutrition-sensitive agriculture buttressed by inclusive water governance for the smallholder farming systems.
Speaker
Joyce Chitja
