Title: Circular water management solutions for optimising irrigated agricultural production in Ghana: the relevance of nanotechnology

Authors: Emmanuel K. Boon; Thorolf Konrad Franz Gross; Richard Oppong-Boateng; Oleksandra Karintseva

Addresses: International Affairs, International Centre for Enterprise and Sustainable Development (ICED), 38 Adjirigano Street, East Legon, P.O. Box KA16461, Airport-Accra, Ghana ' Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, 13355 Berlin, Germany ' Department of Irrigation Technology and Innovation, Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), P.O. Box M154, Ministries-Accra, Ghana ' Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration, Sumy State University, Sumy, Ukraine

Abstract: The agricultural sector is the main source of employment, food and income in rural areas in most African countries like Ghana. However, due to several factors, including water scarcity, over reliance on rain-fed agriculture, increasing climate change impacts and pollution of freshwater sources, agricultural productivity is lagging behind the high population growth rate and demand for food. Food and nutrition insecurity, poverty, inadequate employment opportunities and poor quality of life are the dire consequences, especially in the rural communities. This paper argues that deploying the circular water management (CWM) approach in conjunction with nanotechnology applications will help to improve irrigation water provision to smallholder farmers to mitigate these intertwined socio-economic challenges. A mixed research design method guided the research and preparation of the paper. The findings of a comprehensive desk research informed the design of a semi-structured interview guide for collecting data from 11 purposively sampled agricultural scientists and experts of sustainable development, water resources management and nanotechnology in Upper West Region (UWR) in Northern Ghana. In addition, 20 postgraduate students debated on key water resource management issues during a focus group discussion (FGD) and recommended appropriate mitigation measures.

Keywords: agriculture; circular economy; food security; irrigation; nanotechnology; water.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2025.145318

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2025 Vol.24 No.2, pp.115 - 144

Received: 01 Dec 2022
Accepted: 29 Nov 2023
Published online: 31 Mar 2025 *

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