A well-meaning advocate of African agriculture and food systems, ForAfrika, recently declared for the continent to regain its place in world food systems, governments across Africa need to invest in agriculture and in agricultural technologies that help farmers improve their rate of production and adapt to and mitigate against the effects of climate change, he says. The continent has the potential, in fact, to exceed its highest previous production levels, producing enough to feed its population of 1.2-billion and to export food.
Boosting food security is one of ForAfrika’s priorities, especially as getting this right can improve people’s lives in a variety of ways. If people can produce a surplus of food, they can improve their own nutrition, and they can earn money by selling the food, which can be used to improve their education, health and general well-being.
ForAfrika supports household food production by teaching intensive agronomic practices that boost production volumes and nutrition, providing farmers with good seed stock, and promoting climate-smart technology that helps farmers mitigate against and adapt to the effects of climate change. These climate-smart technologies include solar-powered irrigation, using seeds known for good germination rates, and a variety of water and soil conservation techniques.
It is well known that, despite Africa contributing the least to climate change, it is the continent most vulnerable to it. A large contributing factor to this situation is that most African agriculture (95%, according to the African Development Bank) is rain-fed and that agriculture employs a large percentage of the overall population.
The recent record temperatures experienced across Europe show climate change is having real effects on populations worldwide. While this phenomenon is a large threat to Africa’s future sustainability, if the continent’s governments work together, climate change could also provide a catalyst for the continent to use its resources to plot a new path to a better future for its people, and to achieve the targets of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
African governments also have a role to play in ensuring that a situation like the one now faced by so many countries across the continent is not repeated, says ForAfrika’s programmes manager for Uganda, Fred Mutenyo. Uganda is host to more refugees than any other African country, many of them displaced due to the drought in the Horn of Africa.
The food security crisis across Africa is worsening, yet only 30% to 40% of the continent’s arable land is used to grow food, and over the past 40 years Africa has been steadily losing its share of the global food market, says Mutenyo.
