Abstract
This article engages the concept of water literacy, coupled with photo-elicitation methods and long-term ethnographic research, to explore how West African farmers judge water sufficiency. The study focuses on the Upper Comoé river basin in southwest Burkina Faso, an area known for conflict among multiple water users. Pictures of familiar river sites were shown to farmers to explore how they determine whether water suffice to meet their irrigation and livelihood needs. The likelihood of finding water to be sufficient was influenced by who the respondents were (gender) and by where (downstream/upstream) and when (early/late dry season) the picture was taken. Farmers’ sufficiency judgments were framed as a cognitive and linguistic dichotomy that posits water as being either enough or not enough. They drew upon a diversity of indicators in the natural and built environment and hinged on salient attributes, such as the “face” and the “flow” of the water. These two attributes enabled farmers to determine the water’s “force,” a foundational cultural notion that blends material and spiritual considerations. Farmers’ assessments engage multiple time horizons, from memories of the past, to current observations and anticipated future scenarios. By relying upon shared memories and meanings, farmers can compare judgments, analyze options, and collectively mobilize to counteract the dominance of techno-scientific knowledge in official water allocation decisions.
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Notes
The December pictures might have shown more water than commonly found in the river at that time of the year, reflecting the higher than average annual rainfall in 2012 (1214.5 mm). In March, on the other hand, amounts of water in the river are determined by reservoir releases, diversions, and withdrawals for irrigation (which starts in January) rather than rainfall, so the images depicted a rather typical situation during the dry season. However, the high level of rainfall and streamflow variability makes it difficult to determine what “normal” water levels actually are.
It is possible that concerns about the shortage of rainfall during the 2013 rainy season might have weighted on farmers’ minds as they assessed water levels depicted in the images. In fact, between May and late August, the Banfora area received less than two thirds (63%) of the mean rainfall for that period. Though a large rain (96.2 mm) fell on August 29th, the annual rainfall (941.2 mm) remained below the long-term mean. Nonetheless, these worries did not seem to influence farmers’ views: looking at responses before and after the August 29th rain, the likelihood of water to be judged insufficient was actually lower (54%) in the first set (54%) than in the second set (60%).
Burkina Faso hosts NGO-led experiences that involve local communities in monitoring groundwater supplies and then utilize those data in modeling to produce scenarios highlighting the trade-offs of different water management options (WaterAid, 2013). These initiatives, however, are limited to training and engaging farmers in hydrometric techniques rather than integrating local indicators and judgments of water sufficiency.
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Acknowledgments
We appreciate the collaboration of the Agence Nationale de la Météorologie, the Institut National de d’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles, of the Secrétariat Permanente de la Gestion Intégrée des Ressource en Eau, and of the many stakeholders we engaged during years of research in the Upper Comoé sub-basin. We thank the farmers who participated in this study and Hamadou Issa Diallo, our exceptionally talented research assistant. We are grateful for the contribution of climate data by Dr. Pinghouinde Michel Nikiema and of linguistic advice by Dr. Karim Traoré. We also benefited from GIS work by Dr. Elisabeth Kago Nebié and graphic design by Kristin Tanis. Two anonymous reviewers provided insightful and constructive feedback.
Funding
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Decision-Making Under Uncertainty program through a cooperative agreement with the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (NSF SES-0951516).
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Roncoli, C., Orlove, B., Ungemach, C. et al. Enough is enough: how West African farmers judge water sufficiency. Reg Environ Change 19, 573–585 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1426-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-1426-3