Pricing water delivery closer to its real costs is a necessary step to improving use efficiency.

Water covers about 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Of this total, only about 2.5 percent is fresh water, and most of this is frozen in the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, in soil moisture, or in deep aquifers not readily accessible for human use.

In future irrigation schemes, water drainage and removal systems should be budgeted from the start of the project. Unfortunately, adding such costs to the original project often will result in a poor return on investment. Society then will have to decide how much it is willing to subsidize new irrigation development.

Clearly, we need to rethink our attitudes about water and move away from thinking of it as nearly a free good and a God-given right.

Higher energy prices are requiring industry and commerce to examine the costs and efficiency of energy use.

Africa needs roads. Roads bring know-how and fertilizer to farmers and ideas and business for commerce.