Improving water and food security for smallholder farmer communities in sub-Saharan Africa through inter-disciplinary research

Climate variability has an enormous impact on livelihoods across much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where rain-fed agricultural production characterizes local subsistence and is the mainstay of most national economies. Droughts and floods account for ~80% of fatalities and 70% of economic losses due to natural hazards and can curtail GDP growth and constrain development. Future changes in demand from growing populations, urbanization, and rising incomes, coupled with climate change is projected to lead to cuts in GDP setting the stage for migration and conflict. For these reasons, water security is considered one of the top global risks to development and is also fundamental to attaining many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as it is a constraint on meeting a range of challenges including food security, access to clean water, and resilience to hydrological hazards.
The reasons for insufficient progress in attaining water and food security are complex, and include a lack of opportunities to produce and access food, as well as vulnerability and low resilience, particularly to hydrological hazards.

Fundamental to addressing these challenges is understanding the complex interactions between smallholder farmer food production and resilience, the larger scale influences and policies on food production and access, and sustainable methods to improve responses to natural (weather and hydrological) and market (e.g. price) shocks. The proposed research will be undertaken in the context of a recently funded Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project on water and food security in SSA working in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, to understand how resilience can be improved at the smallholder to community level. Potential questions to be answered are:
• How can water and food security be improved through adoption of technologies for hazard early warning, agricultural management, food storage and processing?

• How can community resilience be improved to ensure water and food security without compromising public health?

• What is the role of indigenous knowledge and traditional community-based mechanisms of adaptation to climate variability impacts and food insecurity?
• How can water and food security outcomes be more effectively improved through institutional arrangements and policies?
The student will have the opportunity to develop their own inter-disciplinary research questions and approaches, which will be facilitated via opportunities for fieldwork, collaboration with African scientists, and engagement with stakeholders in the three countries.

Candidates must have or expect to gain a first or strong upper second class degree, in geography or other discipline with relevance to water and food security, or development challenges. Details on how to apply are available from Julie Drewitt, email [Email Address Removed]. Informal enquiries may be made to the project supervisors. For the latest information on postgraduate opportunities within Geography and Environment, please visit our website at: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/geography/postgraduate/research_degrees/studentships.page?

The Research Group details can be found at: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/geography/research/groups.page