Oct 31, 2024 | Blog

Climate-Resilient Crops are Key to Africa’s Food and Nutrition Security

By Enock Chikava, Director, Agricultural Delivery Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

After the recent 2024 Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, one key theme stands out: the need to prioritize food and nutrition security within Africa’s broader climate agenda. This urgency cannot be overstated.

Africa is at the forefront of an escalating climate crisis that is disrupting food systems across the continent. Globally, the last decade has been the hottest on record. For Africa, the effects are already evident. Droughts, floods, mudslides, and storms have become more frequent and severe, and these extreme weather events are crippling the continent’s agricultural productivity, leaving millions vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition.

If current climate trends persist, the consequences for Africa’s agricultural output will be severe. Projections indicate that by 2030, crop yields could drop by nearly 3 percent, with a sharper decline of up to 18 percent by 2050. These declines would put 200 million people at risk of extreme hunger by 2050.

This crisis is made worse by rising temperatures, which affect not just the amount of food smallholder farmers can grow, but also its quality. Higher levels of atmospheric carbon diminish the nutritional value of staple crops, reducing their essential nutrients like zinc, iron, and protein. This double threat—lower production volume and worsening quality—heightens the urgency of focusing on climate-resilient crops that can withstand the pressures of climate change to provide nutritious diets.

The conversations in Kigali brought light to the role of climate-resilient and nutrient-dense crops in addressing these dual challenges. My three major takeaways from the forum highlight the actions required to secure the continent’s future food systems:

  1. Local knowledge is vital for enhancing food security and climate resilience. Africa’s diverse communities possess a wealth of knowledge on food sources, agricultural practices, and climate adaptation strategies. This knowledge needs to be paired with climate-smart innovations that accelerate progress. Combining traditional practices with new innovations, like AI-powered weather prediction services, offers a pathway to improve hunger and nutrition while adapting to changing environmental conditions.
  1. High-nutrient crop varieties tailored to Africa’s needs can transform food systems. Several crop varieties have already been developed to help communities get the nutrients they need. Two standout examples are the orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) and iron-rich beans. OFSP is particularly promising due to its high vitamin A content and drought resistance, allowing it to thrive in some of the continent’s most challenging environments. Similarly, iron-rich beans offer multiple benefits, providing essential nutrients like protein and minerals while being environmentally sustainable. These crops demonstrate the power of innovation to address both nutritional deficits and climate change.
  1. Agricultural policies must prioritize local production and intra-Africa trade.
    Localized production is crucial because it helps diversify food systems, making communities less dependent on imported staples that can be expensive and less nutritious. By investing in local food systems and trade within Africa, smallholder farmers can improve food security, reduce transportation costs, and increase their resilience to climate challenges.

The stakes are high, but so is Africa’s potential to build a more resilient, nutritious, and sustainable food system. What emerged from Kigali was a recognition that the continent has the resources, innovations, and knowledge to solve its nutrition and climate challenges. Yet, success will require concerted efforts from all sectors—governments, philanthropy, private industry, researchers, and communities alike.

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Rethinking and Regenerating Our Food Systems

The potential of regenerative agriculture to transform food systems was a key theme at this year’s Africa Food Systems Forum. Our partner SNV released a position paper going into the detail of how regenerative agriculture can address urgent challenges like soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate resilience.

This repost highlights insights from SNV’s position on regenerative agriculture, focusing on practical, scalable practices for African farmers. For a full breakdown of their recommendations, read the position paper here.

In an era of rapid change, our global agri-food systems face unprecedented challenges. A growing population, particularly in urban centres, alongside the impacts of climate change, shifting consumption patterns, limited natural resources, and increasing human-induced conflicts, necessitate a comprehensive reassessment of how we produce and distribute food.

The need for a paradigm shift

For decades, we focused on only increasing productivity and efficiency through technological advancements such as improved seeds and fertilisers as well as through achieving economies of scale. While this approach was successful in Europe, the USA, and parts of Asia, its effectiveness has been markedly less in Africa. We have seen negative consequences in intensive systems as overuse and wrong use of fertilisers and chemicals resulting in declining soil health, groundwater pollution, and loss of biodiversity. In Africa, low use of external inputs on already degraded soils contributed to further degradation and the expansion of agricultural land at the expense of natural habitats, having a negative impact on biodiversity.

So, what do we need to do differently? We need to work towards a sustainable and resilient agri-food system which can deliver food security and adequate nutrition for people in all their diversity in such a way that the economic, social, and environmental bases are safeguarded for future generations.

A lot of what needs to be done is known: most farmers, scientists, extension services, and private sector know the essentials of what we call Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). However, in the quest to increase production, to reduce the price of food, to maximise profits, many of these principles are no longer practised. In many contexts, we have lost a focus on maintaining soil health and regenerating soils, on improving biodiversity and ecosystems, on the optimum instead of maximum use of resources and inputs. But new challenges such as climate change also require more drastic innovations such as drought-resistant seeds and sustainable water management and small-scale irrigation. Not to forget addressing reducing food loss and waste.

The recent attention given by policymakers, private sector, development organisations, and donors towards Regenerative Agriculture will accelerate to rethink and change the future development of our Agri Food Systems. However, we don’t need dogmatic and simplistic approaches. What is needed are existing and new GAPs, focus on soil health and high-quality seeds, demonstrating practices using smart combinations of external and locally available and recyclable materials that work in specific contexts and that are scalable and are accessible for many of the small and medium-size farmers.

 

Mobilising collective efforts for change

The health of our planet depends on the health of its ecosystem, and a sustainable Agri-food system is crucial for achieving this goal. We know the direction, and we have the technology, so let’s give this priority. All actors in the agri-food system should get to work!