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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
With climate change, drought is expected to increase, and its negative impacts will be
particularly important in developing countries, usually with rainfall-dependent agriculture. The Cabo
Verde archipelago is characterized by limited resources, remoteness, vulnerability to natural disasters,
and a fragile environment. In this study, we provide the first report of the current status and trends of
agriculture in Cabo Verde. We present data on the current performance of agricultural production
areas in these islands and discuss them in terms of their most important natural constraint, water. Also,
we assess the impact of institutional strategies on crop production and evaluate recent mechanisms
that have been engaged towards agrarian development in this archipelago. Our results show that,
among the ten Cabo Verde Islands, Santiago has the largest area used for agriculture (52.5%), followed
by Santo Antão (16%) and Fogo (15.8%), and that rainfed farming dominates in all of them. The staple
crops, such as maize and beans, are produced through rainfed subsistence farming, whereas irrigated
crops (i.e., sugarcane, tomatoes) are mostly grown for commercial purposes. The prolonged drought
periods, exposure, erosion and soil degradation, which led to increasing desertification over the last
decades, have been identified as the main constraints to agrarian development across the ten islands
of the archipelago. The strategies of Cabo Verde government to mitigate water scarcity through
small-scale irrigation based mainly on small dams and drip irrigation technology have a marked
effect on agricultural production in the predominantly arid and semi-arid areas of this archipelago
Description
Keywords
agriculture resilience climate change drought irrigated farming rainfed farming
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Agronomy 2020, 10, 74
Publisher
MDPI