Climate change is causing a food, fuel, and fertilizer crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, rising debt, and extreme weather. Agricultural productivity in the region needs to improve to reduce hunger, poverty, and destruction of agriculture. Climate change could destabilize local markets, curb economic growth, and heighten risk for agricultural investors. Agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa has remained lower than the rest of the world, with alarming projections of climate change, decline in crop yields, and increased food demand posing daunting threats to African food production and food security.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners are working to promote the African continent to make Africa’s agrifood systems more sustainable. Climate change is emerging as a major challenge to agriculture development in Africa, with increasingly unpredictable and erratic weather systems placing an extra burden on food security and rural livelihoods. African agriculture must take on these issues while facing the challenges of climate change and land degradation.
Weather patterns are becoming less favorable in many instances, and water scarcity is not always the biggest threat to food production. In Africa’s coastal regions, floods and storms have already caused water scarcity and outbreaks of new pests and diseases. Production and price risks are major impediments to investment in land improvements, irrigation, farm equipment, and inputs, including fertilisers and seeds.
High domestic food price volatility poses a particular risk to the food security of poor households in many African countries. Climate change is projected to compromise agricultural production, especially in smallholder systems with little adaptive capacity, as currently prevalent in many African countries.
📹 Climate Change Could Affect Global Agriculture Within 10 Years
Average global crop yields for maize, or corn, may see a decrease of 24% by late century, with the declines becoming apparent by …
What is the biggest threat to agriculture?
Climate change is affecting farmers’ ability to grow food, with volatile weather, extreme events like floods and droughts altering growing seasons, limiting water availability, and allowing weeds, pests, and fungi to thrive. Soil erosion is reducing land for agriculture, and declining biodiversity affects crop pollination. Farmers are under pressure to conserve water and use fewer inputs. To mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, they must adopt climate-smart practices, a new learning journey for many.
What are the reasons for poor development of agricultural production in Ethiopia?
The agricultural productivity in Ethiopia under the Derg regime has been declining, with an average annual rate of 0. 6% between 1973 and 1980 and a 2. 1% decrease between 1980 and 1987. Factors contributing to this decline include drought, government policies controlling prices and allowing free movement of agricultural products, unstable political climate, rural community dislocation, land tenure difficulties, land fragmentation, lack of resources, and low technology.
President Mengistu’s 1990 decision to allow free movement of goods, lift price controls, and provide farmers with tenure security was intended to reverse the decline. However, there was debate on the effectiveness of these reforms. Despite this, agricultural output rose by an estimated 3% in 1990-91, largely due to the relaxation of government regulation.
In the late 1980s, the government estimated that 15% of Ethiopia’s total land area was under cultivation, 51% was pasture, and over 60% was cropland. Forestland, mostly in the southwestern part of the country, accounted for 4% of the total land area. These figures differ from the World Bank’s estimates, which estimated that cropland, pasture, and forestland accounted for 13, 41, and 25, respectively, of the total land area in 1987.
What are the main problems of agriculture in South Africa?
South African farmers must adapt their farming practices to address climate change, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss. Soil health is crucial in addressing these issues, with soils in the Wesselsbron area in the Free State having low organic content. This is compared to the 4 to 6 organic content found in Illinois, USA, which is considered a desert. To address this, conservation tillage practices should be implemented, which add organic content to soil and prevent erosion caused by wind and flooding. Living plant material year-round can also help in preserving soil health and ensuring sustainable agriculture for the growing global population.
What are the major challenges of agricultural productivity in Ethiopia?
Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, with smallholder farming systems dominating the sector. These systems face constraints such as small land size, lack of resources, and soil degradation, which hinder sustainable crop production and food security. Climate change, such as frequent extreme weather events, exacerbates these issues. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help resolve these constraints by implementing practices like integrated soil fertility management, water harvesting, and agroforestry.
These practices are linked to drought resilience, crop yield stability, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, and higher household income. However, adoption by smallholder farmers is often limited due to shortage of cropland, land tenure issues, lack of adequate knowledge about CSA, slow return on investments, and insufficient policy and implementation schemes.
Additional measures should be developed to make CSA practices more prevalent in smallholder farming systems. These include utilizing degraded and marginal lands, improving soil organic matter management, providing capacity-building opportunities and financial support, and developing specific policies for smallholder farming. The rapid population growth and environmental degradation further exacerbate these problems.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an agricultural approach that aims to increase agricultural productivity under climate change realities. It includes increasing soil fertility and carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing resilience to climate change, and a stronger use of natural ecosystem services. Managing CSA involves practices such as mulching, the application of organic materials, intercropping, conservation tillage, crop rotation, integrated nutrient management, water harvesting, and agroforestry.
In conclusion, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can help address the constraints faced by smallholder farming systems and improve crop production without altering their potential for future generations.
What are four problems affecting agricultural production in West Africa?
USAID and West Africa are working to improve agricultural productivity in West Africa by addressing key issues such as rain-fed production, low fertilizer use, poor seeds, inadequate water management, and low soil fertility. The West Africa Seed Program, initiated in 2012, aims to increase the availability of certified and drought-resistant seeds for farmers from 12 percent to 25 percent of the total supply by 2017.
The West Africa Fertilizer Program, initiated in 2012, improves fertilizer quality and availability for West African farmers by assisting countries in adopting ECOWAS regional fertilizer regulations and increasing the availability and demand for high-quality fertilizer.
What are the problems facing agriculture in Kenya?
Access to farm inputs, such as seeds, manure, fertilizers, lime, gypsum, and pest control products, is a significant challenge in Kenya. Fertilizer prices are among the highest in the world, and government subsidies can improve yields. The cost of agricultural machinery is also a significant barrier, with Kenya having 24 tractor units per hectare of arable land, compared to Japan’s 4, 600. Co-operatives or government machinery hiring can help. Access to proper information is crucial, with Agrovets being trained to offer extension services in rural villages and advanced internet and mobile phone technology services.
Why is agricultural productivity low in Nigeria?
Poverty and traditional practices can impede farmers’ capacity to address land degradation, a significant challenge in Nigeria. This is largely attributed to soil fertility depletion and erosion.
What are the problems facing agricultural production in Nigeria?
Nigeria’s agricultural sector faces numerous challenges, including poor land tenure, low irrigation farming, climate change, land degradation, low technology, high production costs, poor input distribution, limited financing, high post-harvest losses, and poor market access. These issues have stifled agricultural productivity, affecting the country’s GDP and increasing food imports due to population growth. Between 2016 and 2019, Nigeria’s cumulative agricultural imports were N3.
35 trillion, four times higher than its agricultural export of N803 billion. The government has implemented initiatives such as the Agriculture Promotion Policy, Nigeria-Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Programme, Presidential Economic Diversification Initiative, Economic and Export Promotion Incentives, Zero Reject Initiative, Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), and Action Against Desertification (AAD) Programme to address these issues.
What is the major problem for farmers in southern and eastern Africa?
The pastoral farming system, located in arid and semiarid zones across Africa, is a significant source of vulnerability due to its high incidence of drought, leading to crop failure, weak animals, and distress sales of assets. This system accounts for only 7 percent of the agricultural population and 21 million cattle, sheep, goats, and camels. The pastoral system occupies 346 million hectares of the regional land area but accounts for only 27 million (7%) of the agricultural population.
Socio-economic differentiation is considerable, with many herders losing most of their animals due to droughts or stock theft. Poverty incidence is extensive, but the potential for poverty reduction is low. Agricultural growth potential is also modest, presenting significant challenges.
What is the biggest problem facing agriculture today?
The growing global population is straining finite agricultural resources, leading to issues such as water quality and scarcity, which impact livestock production and irrigation. Farming uses 70% of the world’s freshwater supply, making efficient water resource management crucial. Farmers are adopting sustainable practices and exploring alternative water sources like rainwater harvesting and wastewater reuse.
Climate change exacerbates water scarcity issues, making it even more challenging to maintain an adequate supply of water for agricultural production. Therefore, farmers must prioritize sustainable practices and adapt to climate change to ensure sustainable agricultural practices.
What is one reason for the low agricultural production in West Africa?
Bjornlund et al. posit that the low agricultural productivity observed in Africa is not solely attributable to factors such as climate, soil quality, the prevalence of slavery, and disease.
📹 Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult| Big Think.
Pamela Cantor, M.D. practiced child psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She founded Turnaround for …
what if today africa unites? Can powerful countries just let them be? i think no, they can’t, because for economical and political reasons, africa should be poor and undeveloped, otherwise europe or china or usa or russia could not use them. they starts to corrupt unity inside and will make so many civil wars, and they’re doing some right now too, for just keeping the whole continent poor and undeveloped. that’s why third world countries never reaches to first world’s
Africans did not evolve and develop as we did in Europe. Look at our scientific & artistic achievements. A measure of development is being able to build a two storey building which was not found in Africa. This man is deluded trying to blame colonial government! Look at basic African art compared to that of the Renaissance. Ha! both Spain & Italy have as hot a climate as Africa but look at what they achieved. Reference should also be made to the might of the Spanish empire. The Indian don’t grumble about colonialism as they accept it brought both good & bad & they get in with running a successful economy. They were culturally developed before we Europeans as was China.
I’m in South Africa, the problem is laziness, entitlement, corruption, greed and a complete and utter lack of any sense of: urgency, responsibilty, accountability, pride or introspection. Basically, “someone else will do it” or, “its not my job”, and of course the perennial, “it’s apartheid’s fault”.
History teaches us all time and again, that blacks have never built and will never build a Civilization worth anything, but they sure can bring down any. Even the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayans built something that can still be seen by tourists. Plus, they worked in gold, silver, emeralds, made jewelry and colorful clothing made from wool from the Llamas including the well-known Ponchos. The Armies of the modern world still use Ponchos. I’m still waiting for a Refutation or a Disprove to the above, but with solid FACTS please not just some DUMB ghetto argument ’bout some short lived Mali empire centuries ago of which there is nothing left of value or worth.
Before the colonialist came, Africans were happy and they lived in organized societies with rich culture. We didn’t ask for the white man’s help. Now look at what has happened :unprecedented pollution, civil wars, wanton destruction of forests all in pursuit of an elusive dream of riches that comes with deep emptiness of heart. Let us just go back to what we used to do connecting with the land and mimicking nature in our agriculture practice. We don’t want the rat race. We as Africans have a great sense of community. Let us go back to our values and peaceful coexistence. We are tired of the western narrative of success
The short write-up from PAMELA CANTOR sums the origins of African developmental failure (the children cognitive capacity is often not well developed). Africans have this historical negative attitude towards children and women. Children and women have no say in African culture, both are often abused through neglect and brutality. The children are often too many in a family unit and they suffer both malnutrition and low parental care, this issue is seen in the large number of out of school children in Nigeria. Additionally, Africans continuously brought up their children with vague understanding of the real world dynamics, by infusing them with superstitious beliefs. We also have huge inferiority complex, we only see foreigners as more capable e.g. Europeans and Asians. There is this disrespect for education among “traditional” African people, education through innovation and independence in research is often frown upon. People in Africa hardly bother about their environment in terms of urban and regional planning, simple hygiene etc. There are so many community issues but I mentioned just a few. There’s so much to say concerning the style of leadership in Africa, but this platform will not be enough, so I will only mention the innate weakness of the system of leadership. In Africa, people still have this Alpha male admiration, consequently leaders often have a free reign (disrespect for the copied white man constitution) on the natural resources (material resources) and Human Resources.
You people have no insight at all in the African problem. Tribalism and development do not go together. Find a way to around the tribal issue and Africa will leapfrog all continents. The colonialists particularly the British knew this and used it well by setting one tribe against another to this day. You want examples, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa and many more.
Just to elevate the quality of this comment section, I think rather than being racist and accuse black people of being dumb think more about the actual access of education in Africa. More importantly the difference in the perceived value of education in Africa and for example in China. People are “dumb”, because they’re ignorant to education or they don’t have access to it. And if people can prepare for IQ tests and get much better results guess what defines intelligence… It’s the fucking education and seeing the need for it. So I think it’s more of a mindset and cultural problem rather than a racial one. I bet you wouldn’t know nor do better if you were born there as a poor black guy with “white” brain… It just doesn’t make any differences. Brains are over the races the same. Research it if you don’t believe me. Anyway some reflective thinking wouldn’t hurt you guys. The world can’t be seen all in black and white in all matters.
GEOGRAPHY is the biggest factor. Africa’s GEOGRAPHY prevents economic advancement. Very poor river systems for transportation of goods. Most are too shallow, full of waterfalls, and rapids. Very few areas for ports to allow big ships to dock. Africa’s layout and position on Earth is very poor for economic growth. It’s longer North to South than East to West and sits in the center which gives Africa many climate zones which dictate many different cultures, cultures who don’t trust one another. No reliable pack animals for farming or transportation of goods. Terrain that isn’t conducive to trains. And many more natural factors that is NO Man’s fault.
When a dynastic dictatorship of six decades in Africa that represents ruin, violence, misery to people in Africa has the mean to export its terror, its violence in some European countries where where everything you have achieved is ruined in the name of the tyranny in Africa and deprivation is deployed to make sure you don’t move forwards, this gives you an idea of why development in Africa is so difficult. I am an African from Togo.
At the end he offers a hopeful diagnosis that rich Africans will start investing in Africa and transform the political and business landscape… This article is from 2012, and things have inarguably gotten worse (coup in Burkina Faso only this year, constant instability in central Africa, Nigerian politics might be even worse). It’s not totally fair to ask rich Africans to deplete their wealth by having them invest in countries where the government can steal it at a moment’s notice. The few dozen truly rich African businessmen would just as likely wind up broke, and current dictators wind up a little richer. …The system is so entrenched towards corruption and dysfunction, that to truly “fix it,” you would have to have an outside behemoth like the United States come in and deliberately, forcefully commit military and economic resources to reform the various corrupt governments and autocracies. The U.S. will probably NEVER do that, and the only big country that seems truly interested in Africa is China, where they are doing the exact opposite of what America did in Iraq and tried to do in Afghanistan: stripping democracies, empowering the worst dictators, enabling genocide or the worst human rights violations, and stealing the resources as part of a Colonialism 2.0
Colonization did not separate communities. It brought together rival tribes. Only Africa has a language for every tribe. And only in Africa will different tribes never makes peace. And in Africa politics are the ultimate goal. If I can become president, than everything belongs to me. Just as the tribal leader owned all the land.
I’m African American and these are the same people who went to weaker tribes and sold those who look like themselves for meager worthless commodities just to who knows a week worth of pleasure. Our people are the ones who sold fifty people for an umbrella. Yet because of what we are experiencing now because of our lack of ambition and lack of curiosity we are putting everything on the Europeans. Yeah!”the Europeans play a monumental grotesque part in the atrocities we are experiencing now. But if there was a few brothers who’d say I want that big boat they are sailing over here with, we’ probably would never be going through what we are going through thirteen hundred years to what we are inflicted with now. THAT man has a point ! By the people in Africa having so many different languages and people in Africa who have never been pass the tropical terrain of their land, could never see what’s the world really have to offer them .As a dominant tribe, some of the leaders should have taken a stand and went to unfamiliar tribes and either convince or forced the leaders of weaker tribes to observe what they themselves have witnessed through the hands of a strange people who showed them the way .this is how England did Scotland and Ireland. Right now the Ireland feel as though they are being oppressed by the same perpetrators who say they love them like a brother and sister .I can go on but I just want to make a point .If the people in Africa eradicate and learn one language, then that will be the first start of becoming a great nation
Instead of continuing to blame the continent’s troubles on colonial borders, why don’t the affected countries negotiate new borders that fix those border issues? Either fix that or quit using it as an excuse to blame outsiders for internal problems. But then, no politician ever admits that they are the problem. They have done nothing to deal with the problems.
Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult: #1: Political leaders working primarily for the interest of their countries are overthrown and/or assassinated by former colonial countries of Europe or by the USA. PLENTY examples of this case: Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Ruben Um Nyobé, Mouamar Khadafi… Don’t take my words for it and look up Jacques Foccart to hear it from the horse’s mouth, he’s one of the main men responsible for these coup d’états. Imagine if Napoléon was killed before he had the chance to stabilize France, it would’ve been a mess and maybe still would be. Well, men like Sankara did a great job at initiating the development of their countries and had significant results before they were “stopped” in their enterprise. #2: Countries that were colonized by France are really still controlled by it therefore can’t impulse a positive change for their people as it goes against the interest of France. The interest of Western countries is to sell to Africa and buy for really cheap. That’s why France still controls it’s ancient colonies currency, the franc CFA (literally the franc of French Colonies of Africa) and it’s value so they can devalue it at will and keep getting everything they need in Africa for cheap. Which leaves no chance for these countries to be financially empowered and compete economically. Countries that have their own currency do way better and are actually developing (Nigeria, Ghana…) #3: People in power in these countries still controlled externally are “allowed” to be in power as long as they work for the Western world.
I speak as a person from Botswana. We have universal free education and health care, ranked high on corruption index and a great country to invest in. When we increased our currency and was the same as the a second world country, it was forcibly reduced by Britain with fear of its affects on trade… Politics is the problem.
In the immediate postcolonial period, African countries had a period of rapid economic growth in some cases as high as 10%. As a consequence of the Opec oil crisis which resulted in massive amounts of new money entering commercial banks in the global North, these banks began to extend massive loans to countries in Latin America and Africa. In the 80s Mexico became the first country to default on its loans and soon many others followed which resulted in the American and European governments bailing out their banks and the American controlled IMF and World Bank forcing new restructuring of these economies in order to allow them to pay back their debts. Unfortunately this meant a shift into an export focused economy… What the gentleman talked about as extraction of wealth. Due to the fact that there were dozens of countries now with this export focused economy and many of them were basically selling the same thing, the prices fell and a vicious cycle began because now since these economies are unfocused on actual development but still just paying back debt, and prices for their exports remain low, Africa doesn’t have much of a chance. I mean obviously there are still internal factors explaining why Africa is facing problems of development but western neocolonialism is a pretty big fucking hurdle wouldn’t you agree
The reason why Africa is underdeveloped is because Black people chose to copy and live by European standards. That’s not your culture and before you catch up with the Western world, they’ll already be far ahead. Africa was supposed to be rural anf left rural. Urban living causes conflicts. Resources (money mainly) isn’t enough for everybody.
‘Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult’ Develop in order to develop. In other words, if the one or ones who want to develop haven’t developed themselves how can they develop something? Development of being by the understanding that it is in morality that the facility of principles, in other words, the reason finds its full expression and that the civility of human lies in the being, in other words, in behaviors. The desperate souls are likely the ones who transform the blessings into curses. And it is also about the Spirit that drives the being. In every certainty the Spirit of God flourishes anything it touches. If you seek God’s glory instead of your own glory the development in Africa will be very easy. Because God’s thought creating the worlds is a mercy and an overabundance. God in his mercy has provided Africa with everything for its development. You say you are Christians, you say you know God and you have been into Africa to be slavers and after that episode, you come back as colonists and after that you come as makers of tyrannies. You have stolen even art works to furnish your own museums and after having done all these you forgot your own history and are now asking ”Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult’ If we were you, our legacies in that Africa will be a mercy, a glory to God.
“Concerning the trade on this Coast, we notified your Highness that nowadays the natives no longer occupy themselves with the search for gold, but rather make war on each other in order to furnish slaves… The Gold Coast has changed into a complete Slave Coast.” – William De La Palma Director, Dutch West India Company Sep. 5, 1705
Still blaming colonialism huh. Asia was also colonized and carved up. The Fact is, the Europeans built a tremendous amount of Railway and infrastructure. The Africans simply let it fall apart. The Problem with Africa is Corruption, Intelligence, Culture and Education. They are quite literally sitting on a Gold Mine. If you gave an African Nation and replaced all of the people with Scandinavians. That in 50 Years would be an economic powerhouse. Beautiful Streets, Shops, Jobs, Manufacturing etc. Its the People, and they need to be educated, and their Culture needs to be upgraded. Actually, there needs to be mass Immigration from East Asia and Europe. They need to be interbred with Asians and Europeans.
The colonialists care nothing for Africa for her own sake. They are attracted by African riches and their actions are guided by the desire to preserve their interests in Africa against the wishes of the African people. For the colonialists all means are good if they help them to possess these riches. (PATRICE LUMUMBA )
How can any government provide clean water, education, health care and jobs to all their citizens when they persist multiplying at the rate that they do. On average Africans have a fertility of 4 or more children per woman. Where would China be without its one child policy? China got rich without migrants and by keeping its fertility down. Japan got rich without migrants, but with lots of western political interference.