Although irrigation in Africa has the potential to boost agricultural productivities by at least 50%, food production on the continent is almost entirely rain-fed. The area equipped for irrigation, currently slightly more than 13 million hectares, makes up just 6% of the total cultivated area. Eighty-five percent of Africa"s poor live in rural areas and mostly depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. As a result, agricultural development is key to ending poverty on the continent.