IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL WATER ALLOCATION ON THE ECOSYSTEMS IN THE INNER NIGER RIVER DELTA
| Autor: | Homayoon Ganji, Takamitsu Kajisa, Barry Kassambara |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Delta
Irrigation Environmental Engineering River delta geography.geographical_feature_category Agroforestry 05 social sciences Biodiversity Soil Science Building and Construction 010501 environmental sciences Multiple cropping Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology 01 natural sciences Water resources Geography Land reclamation 0502 economics and business Farm water 050203 business & management 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of GEOMATE. 14 |
| ISSN: | 2186-2990 2186-2982 |
| DOI: | 10.21660/2018.42.7251 |
| Popis: | The Niger River is a lifeline for humans and biodiversity in Africa’s Sahelian region. Owing toclimate change and population increase over the past three decades, the inhabitants of the Sahel have witnessedthat their ecosystem is under threat, and a significant reduction of its resources has occurred, particularly in theInner Niger Delta. In the recent years, because of the Malian government’s policy of developing large-scaleirrigation, a sustained rate of expansion of around 5,000 ha of new reclamation area has been seen each year inOffice du Niger located upstream of the Inner Delta. The expansion of annual rice double cropping andsugarcane cultivation constitute the main factors for the reduction of the water resources downstream in thisDelta. This paper analyzes the hydrological impacts of this large-scale irrigation and crop pattern on thefloodplain of the Inner Delta during high-flow and low-flow periods. The study results indicated that despitethe rainfall and recent increases in upstream flows of the Niger River, the flooded area size has reduced. Wecould confirm that the annual average water-withdrawal proportion barely changed during the high-flow periodbut changed significantly during the low-flow period when the size of the paddy rice and sugarcane areaincreased. Therefore, changing the crop pattern toward vegetables instead of paddy rice and sugarcane duringthe low-flow period might be a solution. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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