Major changes in policy and management , across the entire agricultural production chain, will be needed to ensure the best use of available water resources in meeting growing demands for food and other agricultural products. This new volume in the successful History of Water Series focuses on the African continent to address this key issue. Humanity has its roots in Africa and many of our food systems developed there. All types of agricultural production are present and the sheer size of the continent offers wide ecological variation from extreme desert to dense rainforest. Drawing together leading international contributors from a wide variety of disciplines Water and Food offers new insights into the evolution of food systems, from early hunter gatherers to the global challenges of the modern world.

Terje Tvedt is Professor of Geography at the University of Bergen and Professor of Political Science and Global History at the University of Oslo. He has published extensively on water related topics and presented three successful television documentaries on water, shown in more than 150 countries worldwide. His books include The River Nile in the Age of the British (2004, pbk 2016), A Journey in the Future of Water (2014) and The Nile: River of History (forthcoming), and he is the Series Editor of the pioneering History of Water Series, all published by I.B.Tauris