Transforming Africa’s food systems: a smallholder farmers’ perspective (original) (raw)
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2020
Building transformative change in Africa's smallholder food systems: Contributions from climate-smart agriculture and agroecology Key messages `Transforming food systems under a changing climate entails amplifying solutions that build sustainability along multiple interconnected principles-i.e., diversity, resilience, equity, economic viability, health and renewability. `Two different approaches are engaged in this transformational work in Africa: climatesmart agriculture (promotes participatory multi-stakeholder collaborations and climate-informed sustainable agriculture innovations) and agroecology (prioritizes cocreated diversified livelihood strategies). `Together, their contributions highlight the urgency of reconfigurations that balance technology transfer with realigning human values to support inclusive processes and principles of transformation. `Taking to scale this critical work will require significant support: donors and policy makers can help by diversifying their investments to create a balance between projects focused on technological solutions and those implementing more agroecological components. `Agricultural research for development organizations can help to build the evidence base for agroecology and climate-smart agriculture based on data metrics associated with yields, income, and socioeconomic performance, and on the significance of their holistic approaches to tackling climate change adaptation and mitigation by ensuring strong, resilient social foundations.
From Potentials to Reality: Transforming Africa's Food Production
2021
and proposed investment and policy actions I) Systemic actions and investments for sustainable agricultural development II) Specific production-enhancing actions and investments III) Institutional frameworks: Governance, market access, trade and continental and international cooperation Ten Top priorities that boost agricultural growth and meet food systems needs 4 Sustainable expansion and intensification of agricultural production 4.1 Crop-related innovations 4.1.1 Production inputs 4.1.2 Mechanization along the value chain 4.1.3 Irrigation 4.1.4 Reducing food losses 4.1.5 Land use change, sustainable land management and climate resilience 4.2 Animal husbandry 4.2.1 Production systems 4.2.2 Production and consumption trends 4.2.3 Improving productivity of animal husbandry practices in Africa 4.3 Capture fisheries and aquaculture 4.3.1 Ocean and inland fisheries 4.3.2 Aquaculture 4.4 (Agro-)Forestry 4.4.1 Challenges to the African forest sector 4.4.2 Towards enhancing the contribution of African forests to food security 4.4.3 Agroforestry: The best of two worlds? 4.4.4 Barriers to agroforestry adoption 4.4.5 Priority areas for action to expand agroforestry 5 Systemic investments for sustainability 5.1 Skill development and agricultural extension 5.1.1 Skills development for value chain actors in African agriculture 5.1.2 Agricultural extension provision for agri-food value chain actors 5.2 Youth engagement 5.3 Digitalization 5.4 Research investments in partnership 4 PARI-Program of Accompanying Research for Agricultural Innovation 5.4.1 Research and development investments 5.4.2 The case for collaboration and partnership 5.4.3 Pre-existing research partnerships 5.5 Rural and agricultural finance 5.5.1 The current status of rural and agricultural finance in Africa 5.5.2 Innovations and emerging trends 5.5.3 Priority areas for action to improve access to rural and agricultural finance 5.6 Energy 5.7 Inclusive markets 5.7.1 The benefits and challenges of agricultural commercialization 5.7.2 Linking smallholders with markets through collective action 5.7.3 Linking smallholders with markets and processing 5.7.4 Innovations for small businesses in rural areas 5.7.5 The role of expanding food-retailing in Africa 6 Investments in governance 6.1 Agricultural and food security policies 6.2 Farmers' organisations 6.2.1 The role of farmers' organisations in Africa 6.2.2 The state of farmers' organisations in Africa 6.2.3 Governance challenges of farmers' organizations 6.3 Land and water rights 6.4 Gender Equality 6.4.1 The agricultural gender gap 6.4.2 Gender equality and food security 7 Development assistance, investment and international cooperation 7.1 Development Assistance for agriculture 7.2 Domestic and foreign private sector investment in the food and agriculture sector 7.2.1 Under-capitalized African Agriculture 7.2.2 Foreign direct investment 7.3 Regional and international trade 7.3.1 The gains from trade for Africa 7.3.2 Africa's current trade position and international competitiveness 7.3.3 Intra-African trade and food security, including AfCTA 7.3.4 Africa's international trade 7.4 Policy processes and initiatives in Africa and at the international level 7.4.1 Ongoing initiatives in Africa 7.4.2 Some significant international processes 7.4.3 Towards effective development partnerships in agriculture 8 References 7
Sustainability
This article highlights evidence and lessons learned from the InnovAfrica project conducted by the Agricultural Research Council in collaboration with other international organizations between 2017 and 2021. This project aimed to test and upscale best-bet Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI) practices through Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) and improved dissemination strategies across six African countries (viz. Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania). The goal of the project was to improve the food and nutritional security of smallholder farmers in Africa. The article briefly discusses some of the key challenges that smallholder agriculture is facing, results from the agricultural interventions brought in by the InnovAfrica project, evidence-based actions and policy recommendations to improve the sustainable agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers in the South African case study. The study showed that SAI practices increased crop yields and build...
Universal Journal of Food Security, 2022
There is an ongoing debate regarding how to feed Sub-Saharan Africa's fast rising population in the long run, as well as the implications for food security. To maintain food security, various strategies have been recommended, including a focus on the significance of diversifying and improving people's diets. Proposals have been tabled elsewhere with a primary focus on enhancing agricultural inputs and technology adoption in order to increase agricultural production and productivity, hence strengthening food security. The current opinion piece attempts to contribute to this debate by examining smallholder agriculture and its role to African food security. This discussion proposes a future paradigm shift toward a gendered climate-smart smallholder agriculture and food production and security conceptual framework based on the promotion and development of smallholder agriculture and food production and security. Therefore, it's predicated that the micro-livestock-centered approach can remodel smallholder agrarian households and communities toward a gender-inclusive global climate change adaptive smallholder agriculture to strengthen production, supply, and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. For Africa, today's predicament is to ensure food security for the anticipated rapid population expansion, while on the other hand handling an overall net adverse effect of worldwide global climate change, and increased socioeconomic ills associated with gender inequality in smallholder agriculture and ensuring long-term agriculture sustainable development. The failure to address gender inequality in smallholder agriculture and food production and pontificate of global climate change effect has thrown Sub-Saharan Africa into a state of perpetual food scarcity and insecurity because of low agricultural productivity and food supply, and by force of circumstances exposing the agricultural communities and its people to extreme poverty and nutrition and food insecurity. Therefore, it's predicated that the micro-livestock-centered approach can remodel smallholder agrarian households and communities toward a gender-inclusive global climate change adaptive smallholder agriculture to strengthen production, supply, and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. For this purpose, this discussion proposes a future paradigm shift towards a gendered climatesmart smallholder agriculture and food production and security conceptual framework hinged on the promotion and development of the micro-livestock and/or unconventional animal species subsector to strengthen food security on the continent. Overall, the discussion emphasizes the importance of taking immediate action to alleviate the negative effects of climate change and address gender inequality through promotion of micro livestock to assist in the development of long-term adaptation measures to maintain smallholder agricultural productivity.
Agriculture in Africa: Strategies to Improve and Sustain Smallholder Production Systems
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2008
Agricultural development lies at the heart of poverty reduction and increased food security of most developing nations. Sub-Saharan Africa (hereafter referred to as Africa) is, however, the only region in the world where per capita agricultural productivity has remained stagnant over the past 40 years. In Asia and Latin America, the use of tailored techniques and technologies has transformed agricultural practice and its productivity, leading to what has been called the "green revolution." The dissemination of uniquely African green revolution technologies has not occurred on the continent. This chapter will argue that the same results in increased productivity and food security can be achieved in Africa if the appropriate investments are made in key interventions: soil fertility improvement, improved seeds, water management, market access, extension services, access to credit, and improvements in weather forecasting. Where these have happened, even partially, the outcome has been remarkable. However, bringing them to scale in ways that sustainably increase agricultural productivity and alleviate poverty requires increased investments and innovative institutional arrangements. Fortunately, several research and development projects on the continent, including the Millennium Villages Project, are providing valuable insights. Finally, this chapter outlines the key remaining challenges.
The "context" for smallholder farming is a political ecology of agrarian change Simon Batterbury LEC, Lancaster University simonpjb @ unimelb.edu.au http://simonbatterbury.net Keynote II by Ken Giller argued that the "context" for smallholder farming has a significant effect on livelihood outcomes and the success of technological interventions. "Context" includes adaptive skill, and a wide set of constraints. African farmers are quite capable of managing their own genetic resources, innovating, finding markets and diversifying livelihood systems in the absence of severe structural constraints, as Paul Richards, Mike Mortimore, Robert Netting and others have argued. But the "constraints" operating in African and Asian farming systems have been magnified in recent decades by large scale land acquisitions, conflicts over land tenure, city growth, environmental challenges and displacement through civil war and rebel groups. Responding to these problems is a necessary precursor to achieving any widespread success through external technical interventions; food security and 'Climate Smart Agriculture' first involves recognising, understanding and tackling different forms of vulnerability, and the role of states, corporations and elites in creating it. I develop some ideas about how to do so, based on studies in Timor Leste, Niger and Burkina Faso.