Irrigation plays a vital role in improving agricultural productivity for achieving food security, economic growth and rural employment in Africa. In recent years there’s been increasing interest in the role of farmer-led irrigation schemes in meeting these goals.

Now a free online course has been launched to provide a summary of the practical and policy questions raised by the phenomenon of farmer-led irrigation development in Africa.

The course features contributions from three members of the Transformations to Groundwater Sustainability (T2GS) project team – Hans Komakech (Tanzania), Mohamed Naouri (Algeria), and Chris de Bont (Sweden).

The T2GS project and the team members’ previous work on farmer-led irrigation development share the conviction that we need to learn from – and value – the actual water management and water development practices and knowledges of farmers to ultimately find pathways to sustainable and productive futures.

The course is aimed at practitioners, researchers and students. It can be completed at your own pace and has been optimised to work in locations with low bandwidth. It features introductions to key concepts, interviews with farmers engaged in irrigation, practical advice and policy implications around farmer-led irrigation.

Find out more and start the course here.

The online course is the result of a short course held at the Nelson Mandela African Institution for Science and Technology in Arusha as an outreach activity of the SAFI (Studying African Farmer-led Irrigation) Project. The course was organised by Hans and Chris with partners from Manchester University, UK, and Mohamed was invited to teach after getting in touch through the T2GS project.

Photo: A farmer manages water in Mawala irrigation scheme, Tanzania (Chris de Bont).