Africa's Involvement in the Trade of Water

China has rapidly diminishing supplies of irrigable water and arable land as well as an ever increasing population size who are demanding (and will demand) more access to meat and exotic fruits. As a result, China is not self-sufficient in food production and is seeking solutions to increasing its food security outside of its borders. My last post investigated the extent to which China is seeking solutions to its food security issues by investing in the agricultural sector of Africa.

It concluded that, contrary to popular belief, the Chinese government does not have a coordinated programme aimed specifically at acquiring African agricultural land to grow food for export. In fact, the majority of Chinese investment is focused upon capacity building to foster a more productive and efficient African agricultural sector. Additionally, and in contrast to popular opinion, China relies very little upon Africa for supplies of agricultural commodites. Whilst in fact, many African countries rely upon Chinese imports for cereals and grains (Bräutigam and Zhang, 2013). Be it China or Eritrea, the idea of importing foodstuffs due to a lack of domestic self-sufficiency leads me to think about the concept of virtual water. This post will explore the concept of virtual water and examine why it is important to both African nations and the global community alike.

Virtual water is defined as the volume of water needed to produce an agricultural commodity, measured at the place where the product was produced (Allan, 2003). Consequently, that volume of water becomes ‘embedded’ in the product it produced and the water is effectively traded alongside it. In order to fully understand the importance of virtual water trade it also crucial to understand the concept of water footprints. Hoekstra and Mekonnen define the national water footprint as a countries consumptive use of green water (soil water), blue water (river, lake) and grey water (wastewater). This includes general consumption of water within the territory, water used within the territory to produce export products and water used in other countries to produce imported products (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012).

Therefore, the greater a countries water footprint, the greater their consumption of water. For countries that have a large water footprint and are water scarce, many have externalised their water footprint via virtual water. This reduces the use of state water resources in turn preventing water crises or deficits within their territory (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012). For example, 1000 litres of water are required to produce 1kg of wheat. The capacity to import this wheat avoids the economic and political stresses associated with accessing 1000 litres of water, in turn avoiding a potential water deficit and associated difficulties (Allan, 2003).

Source: http://virtualwater.eu/

Thus, virtual water allows for international trade of water from ‘water-rich’ to ‘water-poor’ countries. However, it also means that countries which have largely externalised their water footprint are highly dependent not only on imports of food but also the freshwater resources of other countries (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012). Countries that have a large external water (and food) dependency include:  Malta (92% dependency), Kuwait (90%), Israel (82%) (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012). This dependency creates new forms of political and economic interactions and relations between countries. In addition, the relatively large volume of international virtual water flows and associated external water dependencies strengthens the argument that issues surrounding water scarcity must no longer be considered a domestic problem but a global one (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012).

When virtual water trade is quantified and spatially analysed it becomes apparent that the commodity flows from ‘water-rich’ to ‘water-poor’ countries. However, not all countries with a large external water footprint (and therefore rely heavily on virtual water imports) are water scarce. To highlight this Hoekstra and Mekonnen use the example of many Northern European countries e.g. the UK. The UK has an external water footprint of 60-95% thus it depends highly upon external freshwater resources. However, this is not by necessity because the UK has a temperate climate, fertile soils and ample capacity to expand agricultural production and therefore reduce their external water dependency (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012). Thus, in reality, virtual water often flows from ‘cash-poor’ to ‘cash-rich countries’.

According to Hoekstra and Mekonnen, countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, Niger and Mali have external water dependencies of less than 4%. Given that the UK has more than sufficient water supplies but an external dependency of 60-95% it seems a paradox that many of Africa’s most water-stressed countries have some of the smallest external water footprints. This can be seen in figure 2 where the whole of Sub Saharan Africa has a net negative virtual water balance i.e. their exports of virtual water are greater than their imports of virtual water (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012).

Source: Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012

As has been mentioned in previous posts, Africa has been identified as possessing huge untapped agricultural potential. As a consequence, the continent has been the focus of significant investment by a diverse range of international actors aspiring to increase agricultural productivity and make the continent a net agricultural exporter. I now return to the involvement of China in Africa's agricultural sector. China claims that the motivation for their campaign of investment in African agricultural development and African land is for the future of global food security and not merely their own. Given that China's water footprint of consumption is still relatively small these claims could be true (Hoekstra and Mekonnen, 2012). However, China's growing population, water stress and demand for meat it is likely to increase the export of virtual water in to the country. As this reliance increases I predict that China will exploit it's sphere of influence in Africa to ensure that the continent aids China in meeting its population's food needs. Given Africa's water scarcity issues (and the fact that these are likely to be further exacerbated by climate change) the agricultural development of the continent will need to proceed with caution if the future viability water supplies on the continent are to be safeguarded. 

Allan, J. (2003). Virtual Water - the Water, Food, and Trade Nexus. Useful Concept or Misleading Metaphor?. Water International, 28(1), pp.106-113.

Hoekstra, A. and Mekonnen, M. (2012). The Water Footprint of Humanity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(9), pp.3232-3237.