African Agriculture Inc., an investment company based in New York, is growing 300 hectares (740 acres) of emerald-green alfalfa inside a desert nature preserve in Senegal. The farm draws from Lake Guiers — the country’s only freshwater reserve — to irrigate the thirsty crop. The lake also supplies half the water for the capital city of Dakar, where over a million people often do without running water.

For now, the high-protein fodder feeds Senegal’s skeletal cows, which could help bolster the nation’s food security. But African Agriculture’s chairman and chief executive officer, Alan Kessler, says its business plan calls for exporting 70% of the crop from the 20,000 hectares it plans to ultimately cultivate to feed more valuable livestock in the Persian Gulf. The alfalfa, at that scale, will consume about twice as much water daily from Lake Guiers as the pumps and pipelines now convey to Dakar.