scholarly journals Can sub-Saharan Africa feed itself?

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (52) ◽  
pp. 14964-14969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin K. van Ittersum ◽  
Lenny G. J. van Bussel ◽  
Joost Wolf ◽  
Patricio Grassini ◽  
Justin van Wart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gap Analysis ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Yield Potential ◽  
Food Demand ◽  
Security Risk ◽  
Yield Gap ◽  
Gap Closure ◽  
Production Area ◽  
Sub Saharan

Although global food demand is expected to increase 60% by 2050 compared with 2005/2007, the rise will be much greater in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Indeed, SSA is the region at greatest food security risk because by 2050 its population will increase 2.5-fold and demand for cereals approximately triple, whereas current levels of cereal consumption already depend on substantial imports. At issue is whether SSA can meet this vast increase in cereal demand without greater reliance on cereal imports or major expansion of agricultural area and associated biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. Recent studies indicate that the global increase in food demand by 2050 can be met through closing the gap between current farm yield and yield potential on existing cropland. Here, however, we estimate it will not be feasible to meet future SSA cereal demand on existing production area by yield gap closure alone. Our agronomically robust yield gap analysis for 10 countries in SSA using location-specific data and a spatial upscaling approach reveals that, in addition to yield gap closure, other more complex and uncertain components of intensification are also needed, i.e., increasing cropping intensity (the number of crops grown per 12 mo on the same field) and sustainable expansion of irrigated production area. If intensification is not successful and massive cropland land expansion is to be avoided, SSA will depend much more on imports of cereals than it does today.

scholarly journals Circular Bioeconomy Research for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Innovations, Gaps, and Actions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiferaw Feleke ◽  
Steven Michael Cole ◽  
Haruna Sekabira ◽  
Rousseau Djouaka ◽  
Victor Manyong
Keyword(s):  
Gap Analysis ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
International Institute ◽  
The Public ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Sub Saharan

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has applied the concept of ‘circular bioeconomy’ to design solutions to address the degradation of natural resources, nutrient-depleted farming systems, hunger, and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over the past decade, IITA has implemented ten circular bioeconomy focused research for development (R4D) interventions in several countries in the region. This article aims to assess the contributions of IITA’s circular bioeconomy focused innovations towards economic, social, and environmental outcomes using the outcome tracking approach, and identify areas for strengthening existing circular bioeconomy R4D interventions using the gap analysis method. Data used for the study came from secondary sources available in the public domain. Results indicate that IITA’s circular bioeconomy interventions led to ten technological innovations (bio-products) that translated into five economic, social, and environmental outcomes, including crop productivity, food security, resource use efficiency, job creation, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Our gap analysis identified eight gaps leading to a portfolio of five actions needed to enhance the role of circular bioeconomy in SSA. The results showcase the utility of integrating a circular bioeconomy approach in R4D work, especially how using such an approach can lead to significant economic, social, and environmental outcomes. The evidence presented can help inform the development of a framework to guide circular bioeconomy R4D at IITA and other research institutes working in SSA. Generating a body of evidence on what works, including the institutional factors that create enabling environments for circular bioeconomy approaches to thrive, is necessary for governments and donors to support circular bioeconomy research that will help solve some of the most pressing challenges in SSA as populations grow and generate more waste, thus exacerbating a changing climate using the linear economy model.

scholarly journals Prospects for sustainable intensification of soybean production in sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-371
Author(s):  
Deepayan Debnath ◽  
◽  
Suresh Babu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Sustainable Intensification ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Yield Gap ◽  
Livestock Industry ◽  
Soybean Yield ◽  
Soybean Production ◽  
Soy Meal ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Ssa Countries

There is a significant soybean yield gap in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Sustainable intensification of the agricultural sector to reduce such a yield gap is important. Increasing soybean productivity can meet the growing demand for food and feed when complemented with higher soy meal demand by the local livestock industry. This study performs an ex-ante economic analysis to determine the effect of higher soybean production on trade and land use within SSA countries. We find that increasing soybean yield by 50% can increase the total returns from soybean production by 186 million LC (local currency) in Ethiopia and 36 billion LC in Nigeria. We show that soybean yield growth alone is enough to boost soy oil production, as the crushing of the beans produces 18% oil and 79% meal. While increasing productivity may lead to freeing land to produce high-valued cash crops, investors will be reluctant to invest in the crushing facilities in the absence of soy meal demand by the livestock industry. Therefore, policymakers need to establish collaboration between development organisations, private companies, farmers and researchers to achieve this transformation and thereby raise agricultural productivity.

Addressing the Yield Gap in Sub-Saharan Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.J. Hillocks
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Yield Gap ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Reconciling agriculture, carbon and biodiversity in a savannah transformation frontier

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1703) ◽  
pp. 20150316 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. D. Estes ◽  
T. Searchinger ◽  
M. Spiegel ◽  
D. Tian ◽  
S. Sichinga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yields ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Transportation Costs ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Agricultural Expansion ◽  
Potential Yield ◽  
Cropland Area ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Environmental Objectives ◽  
Sub Saharan

Rapidly rising populations and likely increases in incomes in sub-Saharan Africa make tens of millions of hectares of cropland expansion nearly inevitable, even with large increases in crop yields. Much of that expansion is likely to occur in higher rainfall savannas, with substantial costs to biodiversity and carbon storage. Zambia presents an acute example of this challenge, with an expected tripling of population by 2050, good potential to expand maize and soya bean production, and large areas of relatively undisturbed miombo woodland and associated habitat types of high biodiversity value. Here, we present a new model designed to explore the potential for targeting agricultural expansion in ways that achieve quantitatively optimal trade-offs between competing economic and environmental objectives: total converted land area (the reciprocal of potential yield); carbon loss, biodiversity loss and transportation costs. To allow different interests to find potential compromises, users can apply varying weights to examine the effects of their subjective preferences on the spatial allocation of new cropland and its costs. We find that small compromises from the objective to convert the highest yielding areas permit large savings in transportation costs, and the carbon and biodiversity impacts resulting from savannah conversion. For example, transferring just 30% of weight from a yield-maximizing objective equally between carbon and biodiversity protection objectives would increase total cropland area by just 2.7%, but result in avoided costs of 27–47% for carbon, biodiversity and transportation. Compromise solutions tend to focus agricultural expansion along existing transportation corridors and in already disturbed areas. Used appropriately, this type of model could help countries find agricultural expansion alternatives and related infrastructure and land use policies that help achieve production targets while helping to conserve Africa's rapidly transforming savannahs. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation’.

scholarly journals Spatial frameworks for robust estimation of yield gaps

Nature Food ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan I. Rattalino Edreira ◽  
José F. Andrade ◽  
Kenneth G. Cassman ◽  
Martin K. van Ittersum ◽  
Marloes P. van Loon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Yield Potential ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Yield Gap ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Improvement Project ◽  
Yield Gaps

AbstractFood security interventions and policies need reliable estimates of crop production and the scope to enhance production on existing cropland. Here we assess the performance of two widely used ‘top-down’ gridded frameworks (Global Agro-ecological Zones and Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project) versus an alternative ‘bottom-up’ approach (Global Yield Gap Atlas). The Global Yield Gap Atlas estimates extra production potential locally for a number of sites representing major breadbaskets and then upscales the results to larger spatial scales. We find that estimates from top-down frameworks are alarmingly unlikely, with estimated potential production being lower than current farm production at some locations. The consequences of using these coarse estimates to predict food security are illustrated by an example for sub-Saharan Africa, where using different approaches would lead to different prognoses about future cereal self-sufficiency. Our study shows that foresight about food security and associated agriculture research priority setting based on yield potential and yield gaps derived from top-down approaches are subject to a high degree of uncertainty and would benefit from incorporating estimates from bottom-up approaches.

scholarly journals How big is the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) yield gap in Sub-Saharan Africa and why? A participatory approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieudonné Harahagazwe ◽  
Bruno Condori ◽  
Carolina Barreda ◽  
Astère Bararyenya ◽  
Arinaitwe Abel Byarugaba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Solanum Tuberosum L ◽  
Experimental Information ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Yield Gap ◽  
Potential Yield ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract According to potato experts from ten Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries working together in a community of practice (CoP) over a 3-years period, potato farmers across SSA can increase their current annual production of 10.8 million metric tons by 140% if they had access to high quality seed along with improved management practices. This paper describes this innovative new methodology tested on potato for the first time, combining modelling and a comprehensive online survey through a CoP. The intent was to overcome the paucity of experimental information required for crop modelling. Researchers, whose data contributed to estimating model parameters, participated in the study using Solanum, a crop model developed by the International Potato Center (CIP). The first finding was that model parameters estimated through participatory modelling using experts’ knowledge were good approximations of those obtained experimentally. The estimated yield gap was 58 Mg ha-1, of which 35 corresponded to a research gap (potential yield minus research yield) and 24 to farmers’ gap (research yield minus farmer’s yield). Over a 6-month period, SurveyMonkey, a Web-based platform was used to assess yield gap drivers. The survey revealed that poor quality seed and bacterial wilt were the main yield gap drivers as perceived by survey respondents.

scholarly journals Priorities for Sweetpotato Research in Developing Countries: Results of a Survey

HortScience ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1200-1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith O. Fuglie
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
New Product Development ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Vitamin A Deficiency ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Yield Potential ◽  
Small Enterprise ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Planting Material ◽  
Sub Saharan

International institutions like the International Potato Center (CIP) strive to provide “global public goods” in the form of improved technologies applicable to large regions of the developing world. To identify priorities for sweetpotato improvement, CIP conducted a survey of knowledgeable scientists in developing countries to elicit their perspectives on the most important constraints facing poor and small-scale sweetpotato growers in their countries. Respondents scored productivity and other constraints according to their importance in the region or country where they worked. Mean and weighted mean scores were estimated to provide a group judgment of the most important constraints facing sweetpotato farmers in developing countries. The survey results showed that there are a few key needs facing farmers in all major sweetpotato producing areas, but there are other very important needs specific to certain regions. The needs that scored highest in all or most of the major sweetpotato producing areas in developing countries are: i) control of viruses (through varietal resistance, quality planting material, and crop management); ii) small-enterprise development for sweetpotato processing; iii) improvement in availability and quality of sweetpotato planting material; and iv) improved cultivars exhibiting high and stable yield potential. Some differences emerged, however, in priority needs of the two major centers of sweetpotato production: Additional priorities for sub-Saharan Africa include improved control of the sweetpotato weevil and cultivars with high β-carotene content to address vitamin A deficiency. For China, other top needs are: i) conservation and characterization of genetic resources; ii) prebreeding; iii) cultivars with high starch yield; and iv) new product development. The different sets of priorities reflect differences in the role of sweetpotato in the rural economy and also different capacities of the agricultural research system in these regions of the world. Compared with earlier surveys, there now seems to be a greater need for postharvest utilization research, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, partly reflecting a demand constraint due to the crop's status as an inferior food.

African Smallholder Farmers on the Move: Farm and Non-Farm Trends for Six Sub-Saharan African Countries, 2002–15

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Jirström ◽  
Maria Archila Bustos ◽  
Sarah Alobo Loison
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Production Area ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The One ◽  
High Degree

This chapter provides a broad descriptive background of central aspects of smallholder agriculture in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It offers an up-to-date picture of the current trends of crop production, area productivity, levels of commercialization, and sources of cash incomes among 2,500 farming households. Structured around smallholder production, commercialization, and diversification in the period 2002–15, the chapter points on the one hand at persistent challenges such as low crop yields, low levels of output per farm, and a high degree of subsistence farming, and on the other hand at positive change over time in terms of growth in crop production and increasing levels of commercialization. It points at large variations not only between countries and time periods but also at the village levels, where gaps in crop productivity between farms remain large. Implicitly it points at the potential yet to be exploited in the SSA smallholder sector.

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