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The article presents the views of the authors on the most important constraints to achieving food security in various parts of Africa. According to Sabina Anokye Mensah, low investments in agriculture at the processing level are major constraints to achieving food security. Francois Ruf states that land tenure issues constitute an important constraint to achieving food security. David Hall-Matthews says that weak state capacity and accountability are important constraints to food security.

Since the early 1990s African governments took an active part in the global movement of water reform towards Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The first step consisted primarily of assimilating the generic principles of IWRM. At this generic level, water reform in Sub-Saharan Africa seems quite similar to water reform elsewhere in the developed and developing world. However, in taking the second step of operationalizing generic principles into concrete actions on the ground, at least three salient differences between Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere emerged: (a) Africa’s relative abundance of water resources but its scarcity of economic means to harness available water resources; (b) the importance of agriculture and agricultural water development for economic growth and poverty eradication; and (c) the need for systems of water rights and financial resource mobilization that are separated and suit the African reality in which large water users are relatively few, while the bulk of water users are scattered smallholders. This paper discusses the early operationalization with regard to these three unique features and identifies lessons learnt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Water-permit systems are widely used across Africa as a blanket requirement for small and micro irrigation enterprises, as well as large enterprises. The present study aimed to, first, further understand the implications of permit systems for both the most vulnerable and the state, and, second, based on the findings, identify options for pro-poor water legislation that also meet the water governance requirements of the state. The growing recognition of the importance of farmer-led irrigation development for food security across the continent underlines the importance of these questions. Focusing on Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and other African countries, we found that permit systems criminalized instead of protected the water rights of small-scale farmers. Moreover, little if any attention is paid to the logistical burdens and costs to the state of implementing such systems relative to the intended revenue generation. As many small-scale farmers in Africa were found to operate under customary land and water tenure systems, the study proposes a hybrid system of water rights that formally recognizes such practices, along with the use of permits, including enforcement of conditions for large users, to serve the interests of both the state and small-scale farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]