Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
9.1 Introduction
The challenges to improving food security and agricultural sustainability in Africa are
great and multifaceted. The first green revolution failed in Africa, and roughly 50% of its
population has remained in poverty (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge,
Science and Technology for Development [IAASTD], 2009), despite the considerable
resources invested in its implementation. This failure has been attributed to Africa's high
agroecological variability, lack of infrastructure and irrigation (Toenniessen et al., 2008),
and poor understanding of the important role of socioeconomic and cultural complexity
(Sanginga, 2010). As Giller et al. (2010) pointed out, there are no silver bullets for improving
agricultural productivity in Africa. For any set of approaches to be effective, it will need
to take into account the tremendous diversity of local farming systems in the region and
the variation in underlying resources and capacities within and between communities
and improve livelihoods to increase nutritional self-sufficiency and reduce poverty. These
approaches will also need to be sustainable, that is, to be able to maintain improvements
into the foreseeable future.
Despite improvements in many other regions, sub-Saharan Africa has continued to
experience a decline in food security and agricultural productivity per capita, leading to
an increase in undernourishment since 1990 (Food and Agricultural Organization [FAO],
2006; Toenniessen et al., 2008). Biophysical challenges to food security include production-
limiting constraints faced by resource-poor farmers, such as shrinking farm sizes and
inequitable land distribution patterns, depleted soils and limited use of fertilizer and soil
amendments, unreliable rainfall and lack of irrigation capacity, inadequate pest and dis-
ease control, and limited access to improved varieties and seed distribution systems (Diao
et al., 2007).
These production challenges for agriculture in Africa are likely to be made even more
difficult in the future by the effects of global climate change. Predicted changes for sub-
Saharan Africa include increased rainfall variability, more frequent extreme events such
as droughts and floods, and increased average temperatures (National Research Council
[NRC], 2008; IAASTD, 2009). Only 4% of agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa is irri-
gated, which means that more unpredictable rainfall will greatly impact the primarily
rain-fed systems throughout the region. Biophysical production constraints are further
aggravated by infrastructural issues such as poorly maintained roads and transportation
systems, lack of access to regional or international markets, poor or nonexistent access
to credit, problems with labor availability, unstable political systems, poor security, and
warfare (Diao et al., 2007). Further, a lack of innovation networks and underinvestment
by national governments and other institutions in the physical, institutional, and human
capital needed to support sustainable agricultural intensification in Africa are widespread
(NRC, 2010).
Against this backdrop, there have been a number of multistakeholder, international
groups convened to develop strategic approaches to what has been termed either a sec-
ond green revolution (InterAcademy Council, 2004; Toenniessen et al., 2008; African Green
Revolution, 2009) or the sustainable intensification of African agriculture (NRC, 2010;
IAASTD, 2009). Members of the African Union have created the Comprehensive Africa
Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) to help African countries improve economic
growth through agricultural development that “eliminates hunger, reduces poverty and
food insecurity, and enables expansion of exports” (African Union Report, 2008). The road
maps offered by these organizations vary but include use of improved crop varieties,
increasing soil productivity, building more equitable access to input and product markets
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