A more immediate challenge is ensuring that crops receive sufficient water, which requires building and maintaining efficient irrigation systems to stabilize yields and enable farmers to harvest an additional crop each year. As it stands, only 4% of arable land in Sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated, compared to 38% in Asia.
更紧迫的挑战是确保作物得到足够的水，这需要建造和维护高效灌溉系统以稳定产量、让农民每年可以收获更多季的作物。比较而言，撒哈拉以南非洲地区只有4%的适耕土地得到了灌溉，而亚洲这一比例为38%。尽管中东面临严重的水短缺问题，但非洲——大部分人口增长都将发生于此——蕴藏着大量未开发水资源。