Water, agriculture and island resilience in Cabo Verde

Summary

In Cabo Verde, relationships between societies, natural resources and the ocean are profoundly shaped by insularity, aridity and heavy dependence on available water resources.

What are currently the most significant changes in the relationships between the ocean, natural environments and societies in the territory you study? Which seem most consequential in the medium and long term?

In Cabo Verde, relationships between societies, natural resources and the ocean are profoundly shaped by insularity, aridity and heavy dependence on available water resources. Irregular rainfall and recurrent droughts make water mobilisation and management central issues for agriculture, water supply and other economic activities, including tourism.

One particularly important change has been the growing infrastructure development associated with water management, through the construction of dams, irrigation systems, desalination and other facilities. These interventions seek to reduce vulnerability to climate variability, but they also alter relationships between territory, water and economic activities.

In the medium and long term, I consider three processes particularly consequential: growing pressure on water resources; the transformation of agricultural systems and land uses; and the need to reconcile agriculture, urbanisation, tourism, environmental conservation and food security in a territory with limited natural resources.

The fundamental challenge is not simply to produce more water or build more infrastructure. It is to ensure that the resources mobilised are effectively translated into more resilient and sustainable productive and social systems.

How do these changes redistribute vulnerabilities, resources and land uses? Which groups, activities or ecosystems benefit, which become more exposed, and what choices or conflicts result?

Changes in natural resource management do not have uniform effects across the territory. Water infrastructure, for example, can create new agricultural opportunities and improve production conditions, but the benefits depend on location, access to land, farmers' investment capacity, water costs and the functioning of the institutions responsible for resource management.

In irrigated agriculture, water availability can significantly change the economic value of land and the scope for diversifying production. However, when the water supplied is expensive, or access to markets, technology or finance is limited, infrastructure alone does not guarantee a sustainable transformation of rural livelihoods.

Similarly, urban and tourism expansion increases demand for water and can intensify competition between uses. Small farmers are particularly sensitive to these changes because they generally have less capacity to absorb higher costs or prolonged shortages.

Water must therefore also be analysed as a distributional issue: who has access to the resource, under what conditions, at what cost and for what purposes?

Drawing on your fieldwork and research, which idea or experience that remains insufficiently heard should, in your view, contribute more to international debates and public action on the ocean, nature and societies?

One idea I consider important to reinforce is that rural populations should not be seen solely as beneficiaries or victims of environmental and climate policies. They also produce knowledge and have accumulated experience of adapting to highly restrictive ecological conditions.

My fieldwork has shown me that farmers develop their own strategies for coping with water scarcity and variability, combining local knowledge, experimentation and technologies introduced by public programmes or development projects.

At the same time, I have also learnt that we should not romanticise so-called "traditional knowledge". Some practices are effective in particular contexts, while others need to be complemented by scientific knowledge, technology, infrastructure and public services.

The central issue is therefore not to choose between local and scientific knowledge, but to create conditions for dialogue between them. In island territories vulnerable to climate change, this combination can be particularly important for building policies better adapted to local realities.

How do Cabo Verdean farmers combine locally accumulated knowledge with new techniques to address drought, irregular rainfall and salinisation?

Historically, Cabo Verdean farmers developed adaptation strategies based on observing the climate, selecting crops, managing soil and water, and diversifying activities. This knowledge remains present, but is now combined with technologies and techniques introduced by public institutions, cooperation projects and producer organisations.

These new approaches include more efficient irrigation systems, soil and moisture conservation techniques, adapted crop varieties, organic and agroecological farming practices, and different forms of water management.

However, adopting these techniques depends on more than their availability. It also depends on costs, access to finance, technical assistance, water availability and market conditions.

Adaptation must therefore be understood as a process of experimentation and learning. Farmers do not simply "adopt" technologies: they adapt them to their actual circumstances and often introduce changes and solutions of their own.

What conflicts or inequalities arise in the allocation of water between agriculture, urban consumption, tourism and ecosystem protection?

Water is structurally scarce in Cabo Verde, so its distribution involves choices and priorities. Urban and tourism expansion increases demand, while agriculture continues to depend on water resources whose availability is highly variable.

This can generate tensions, especially when different uses compete for the same resource. The issue should not be framed simply as a confrontation between agriculture and tourism, or between human consumption and agricultural production. The fundamental problem is how to establish priorities and management mechanisms that ensure economic efficiency, social equity and environmental sustainability together.

Another important aspect is the price of water. Higher costs can encourage more efficient use, but they can also exclude producers with fewer economic resources. A water efficiency policy that neglects the social dimension can therefore end up transferring the costs of scarcity to small farmers.

Water needs to be understood as an economic, social and environmental resource, rather than solely as a commodity or a technical input to agricultural production.

To what extent does dependence on food imports constrain the archipelago's ability to build more resilient agricultural systems?

Dependence on food imports is one of the main structural constraints on building more resilient food systems in Cabo Verde. Insularity entails high transport costs and considerable exposure to international market conditions.

At the same time, Cabo Verde faces significant natural limitations on agricultural production: water scarcity, limited arable land and high climate variability. Complete food self-sufficiency is therefore not a realistic prospect.

The more relevant question is which products and production systems make economic, social and environmental sense for the country. Domestic production can help reduce certain vulnerabilities, diversify diets, generate rural income and strengthen the capacity to respond to external shocks.

Food security must be considered not only in terms of the quantity produced domestically, but also in terms of access, stability, quality, diversification and the country's ability to manage external risks.

Which agroecological practices currently have the greatest potential, and what economic, land-related or institutional obstacles hinder their adoption?

In Cabo Verde, I consider practices involving soil and water conservation, improving soil organic matter, diversifying production, integrating crop and livestock production, efficient water use and making better use of local resources particularly promising.

Agroecology can be especially relevant where water is scarce and soils are subject to degradation. However, its expansion faces obstacles that extend well beyond the technical dimension.

These include the small scale of many farms, fragmented landholdings, difficulties accessing finance, producers' limited investment capacity, irregular access to technical assistance and difficulties accessing markets that adequately reward differentiated products.

Promoting agroecology therefore requires integrated policies. Training farmers in particular techniques is not enough; economic, institutional and market conditions must make those practices viable over the long term.

Which policies would support farmers without imposing technical solutions disconnected from each island's social and ecological characteristics?

The first condition is to recognise that Cabo Verde is not a homogeneous agricultural territory. Each island, and each rural territory within it, has specific ecological, social, economic and productive conditions. Agricultural policies should therefore combine national guidance with a strong capacity for territorial adaptation. This means strengthening rural extension services, bringing research and producers closer together, supporting local experimentation and involving farmers' organisations in defining solutions.

I also consider it essential to evaluate policies not only by the number of facilities built or the volume of investment made, but by the actual results achieved for farmers and territories.

For water, for example, a dam or irrigation system may be necessary but insufficient to transform agriculture. Maintenance, management, farmers' access, affordable prices, technical assistance, markets and appropriate institutional models must all be ensured.

Rather than imposing a universal technical solution, public policy should create conditions in which different solutions can be tested, evaluated and adapted to local realities. I see one of the main opportunities for a more resilient agricultural transition in Cabo Verde in this connection between scientific knowledge, farmers' experience and public policies differentiated by territory.

Bibliographic information

Type

Article

Date

14 October 2026

Author

Arlindo Rodrigues Fortes

Study Centre

ONS

Original language

English

Original document

PDF, 3 pages

Full text

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