Impact of transnational land acquisitions on local food security and dietary diversity

Foreign investors have acquired approximately 90 million hectares of land for agriculture over the past two decades. The effects of these investments on local food security remain unknown. While additional cropland and intensified agriculture could potentially increase crop production, preferential targeting of prime agricultural land and transitions toward export-bound crops might affect local access to nutritious foods. We test these hypotheses in a global systematic analysis of the food security implications of existing land concessions. We combine agricultural, remote sensing, and household survey data (available in 11 sub-Saharan African countries) with georeferenced information on 160 land acquisitions in 39 countries. We find that the intended changes in cultivated crop types generally imply transitions toward energy-rich, but nutrient-poor, crops that are predominantly destined for export markets. Specific impacts on food production and access vary substantially across regions. Deals likely have little effect on food security in eastern Europe and Latin America, where they predominantly occur within agricultural areas with current export-oriented crops, and where agriculture would have both expanded and intensified regardless of the land deals. This contrasts with Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where deals are associated with both an expansion and intensification (in Asia) of crop production. Deals in these regions also shift production away from local staples and coincide with a gradually decreasing dietary diversity among the surveyed households in sub-Saharan Africa. Together, these findings point to a paradox, where land deals can simultaneously increase crop production and threaten local food security.

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Conservation research output in sub-Saharan Africa is increasing, but only in a few countries

Oryx ◽

10.1017/s0030605320000046 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

P. Christy Pototsky ◽

Will Cresswell

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Research Output ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Search Term ◽

African Countries ◽

Research Papers ◽

North American Country ◽

Conservation Research ◽

Sub Saharan

Abstract We tested if peer-reviewed conservation research output has increased in sub-Saharan African countries over the last 30 years in response to increased development. We carried out a bibliometric analysis to identify the number of conservation research papers published by national authors of 41 sub-Saharan African countries during 1987–2017, to provide an index of national conservation research output. We identified country-specific development factors influencing these totals, using general linear modelling. There were positive relationships between conservation research output and population size, GDP, literacy rate, international tourism receipts and population growth rate, and negative relationships with urban population and agricultural land cover, in total explaining 77% of variation. Thirty-eight per cent of countries contributed < 30 conservation research papers (of 12,701) in 30 years. Analysis of trends in primary authorship in a random subsample of 2,374 of these papers showed that primary authorship by sub-Saharan African authors has increased significantly over time but is now at a lower rate than primary authorship for authors from countries outside the country associated with the search term, usually a European or North American country. Overall, 46% of papers had national primary authors, but 67% of these were South African. The results show that conservation research output in sub-Saharan Africa overall is increasing but only significantly in a few countries, and is still dominated by non-national scientists, probably as a result of a lack of socio-economic development.

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Climate Smart Agriculture as Final Goal: Use of Improved Cereals Varieties in Cinzana, Mali.

Journal of Agricultural Studies ◽

10.5296/jas.v5i1.10582 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 50

Author(s):

Kalifa TRAORE ◽

Daouda SIDIBE ◽

Harouna COULIBALY

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Crop Production ◽

Heavy Rain ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Improved Varieties ◽

Farmer Organizations ◽

Conservation Technology ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Smart Agriculture

Climate variability and change are recognized as the greatest challenge to crop production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This work assesses farmers’ perception on the contribution of improved varieties of sorghum and millet in the search for food security in Cinzana rural commune of Mali in the current context of climate change.The methodology was based on focus group surveys with both, the decentralized technical services, administrative and municipal authorities, NGOs, farmer organizations and producers but also farmer exchanges visits on improved varieties tested in farmer’s field.The result shows that climate change is described by the majority of farmers (87%) as decrease in rainfall amount and length of rainy seasons, high increases in temperature and high deforestation and water scarcity. Unpredictability of climate, (80%), drought (70%) and heavy rain (65%) occurrence were identified as major perception of farmers on risks in climate for crop production and soil degradation. After farmers’ study tour, 80% of the participants mentioned a better growth of plants and increase of soil moisture with the use of contour ridges tillage as a water conservation technology. Adapted cycle (55%) and higher yield (37%) of improved varieties were farmer’s main drivers for adoption of improved millet and sorghum varieties.The study revealed that local farmers have substantial knowledge on climate variabilities and risks and also are aware of some adaptation strategies. However, for wide scale adoption of effective strategies, capacity strengthening appeared a prerequisite.

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Food security impacts of industrial crop production in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review of the impact mechanisms

Food Security ◽

10.1007/s12571-019-00988-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 105-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Marcin Pawel Jarzebski ◽

Abubakari Ahmed ◽

Yaw Agyeman Boafo ◽

Boubacar Siddighi Balde ◽

Linda Chinangwa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Food Security ◽

Crop Production ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Industrial Crop ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

The Impact

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Optimizing cropland cover for stable food production in Sub-Saharan Africa using simulated yield and Modern Portfolio Theory

Earth System Dynamics Discussions ◽

10.5194/esdd-5-1571-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 1571-1606 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. Bodin ◽

S. Olin ◽

T. A. M. Pugh ◽

A. Arneth

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Production ◽

Local Food ◽

Local Population ◽

Portfolio Theory ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Modern Portfolio Theory ◽

Local Food Production ◽

Sub Saharan ◽

Access To Food

Abstract. Food security can be defined as stable access to food of good nutritional quality. In Sub Saharan Africa access to food is strongly linked to local food production and the capacity to generate enough calories to sustain the local population. Therefore it is important in these regions to generate not only sufficiently high yields but also to reduce interannual variability in food production. Traditionally, climate impact simulation studies have focused on factors that underlie maximum productivity ignoring the variability in yield. By using Modern Portfolio Theory, a method stemming from economics, we here calculate optimum current and future crop selection that maintain current yield while minimizing variance, vs. maintaining variance while maximizing yield. Based on simulated yield using the LPJ-GUESS dynamic vegetation model, the results show that current cropland distribution for many crops is close to these optimum distributions. Even so, the optimizations displayed substantial potential to either increase food production and/or to decrease its variance regionally. Our approach can also be seen as a method to create future scenarios for the sown areas of crops in regions where local food production is important for food security.

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Comprehensive Review of Growing Food Insecurity in Africa in Terms of Causes, Effects and Solutions: The Nigerian Example

Turkish Journal of Agriculture - Food Science and Technology ◽

10.24925/turjaf.v5i6.629-636.1113 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (6) ◽

pp. 629

Author(s):

Wasiu Olayinka Fawole ◽

Burhan Özkan

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

African Countries ◽

Security Risks ◽

Western Africa ◽

Annual Survey ◽

Food Security Status ◽

Sub Saharan

This study examined the situation of food insecurity in Africa with special emphasis on Nigeria with a view to giving the picture of the trend with respect to causes, effects and possible solutions. The study employed secondary data sourced from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and subsequently compared the results with other previously conducted studies on food security status in Nigeria and few other African countries. Data for the trend of food security between 1990 and 2014 were sourced from FAO. The findings of this study combined with other previously conducted studies revealed that the food insecurity in Nigeria is not only becoming worrisome but frightening. According to the FAO three commonly employed indicators (prevalence of undernourishment, prevalence of food insecurity and number of undernourished people), it was observed that food insecurity in Nigeria continued to rise from 2009 according to the results of the annual survey till 2014. The implication of this is that if the trend is not halted as quickly as possible it is a time bomb that may pose grave security risks and danger to the country and Africa as a whole being the most populous black nation and it is almost certain that any destabilization suffered as a result of hunger in Nigeria is a destabilization of the entire sub-Saharan Africa region considering her enormous population and the strategic place she occupies in the economy of the region especially the western Africa. This paper made some far-reaching recommendations that could halt the trend if judiciously implemented.

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Sustainable genomic research for food security in sub-Saharan Africa

Agriculture & Food Security ◽

10.1186/s40066-021-00287-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sethlina Naa Dodua Aryee ◽

Dennis Owusu-Adjei ◽

Richard Osei-Amponsah ◽

Benjamin Skinner ◽

Emmanuel Sowatey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Value Chain ◽

Crop Production ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Sub Saharan Africa ◽

Genomic Research ◽

Laboratory Research ◽

Phenotypic Traits ◽

Key Stakeholders ◽

Sub Saharan

AbstractAlthough traditional selective breeding has had a tremendous impact on both livestock and crop production in Africa, this has not kept pace with the high demand for animal and plant products on account of increasing urbanization, improved livelihoods and a rapidly growing human population. These challenges justify the need for more innovative and sustainable ways of improving animal and crop production to meet this demand. Over the last two decades the potential of genomics as a key tool to achieve improvement in desirable phenotypic traits has revolutionized the field of applied animal and plant biology. However, well informed use of such techniques has yet to be fully exploited within the context of local resources and capacity-building. The objective of this review is to highlight the rich agricultural biodiversity of sub-Saharan Africa, the potential of genomics in their sustainable use for food security, the challenges of genomic research and the strategies that can be adopted to overcome them in the implementation of agricultural genomic research in Africa. The lack of state-of-the-art laboratory research facilities, skilled human resources, poor funding and non-availability of scientific research resources, paucity of collaborative links between African researchers and a lack of engagement between key stakeholders in the agricultural value chain were identified as major barriers that affect agricultural genomic research in Africa. Finally, the recommended strategies to overcome these challenges will guide policy-makers, researchers, development partners and key stakeholders in the smooth advancement of sustainable agricultural genomic research for improved food security in Africa.

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Dynamics of agricultural land and the risk to food insecurity in the Niayes region of Diamniadio, West Senegal

Jàmbá Journal of Disaster Risk Studies ◽

10.4102/jamba.v9i1.355 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mateugue Diack ◽

Macoumba Loum ◽

Abdoulaye Guisse ◽

Mamadou B. Sane

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Insecurity ◽

Crop Production ◽

Fruits And Vegetables ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Chemical Properties ◽

Exchange Capacity ◽

Agricultural Lands ◽

African Countries ◽

Quantitative And Qualitative Research

Food security is a serious challenge facing West African countries because most croplands are being degraded. Consequently, agricultural production is being exceeded by rapid population growth. This study relates the dynamics of agricultural lands to the level of capacity building for resilience in response to low productivity and hence to food insecurity in the Niayes region, Senegal, where lands are presumably suitable for crop production. Factors influencing changes in surface areas, soil quality and level of resilience were examined using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Findings showed strong relationships between a significant decrease (65.25% – 35.54%) in productive agricultural lands with a range of soil physical and chemical properties (clay to loamy soil texture; soil pH: 7.0–8.0; soil organic carbon [SOC]: 5.0 g kg−1 – 25.0 g kg−1; effective cations exchangeable capacity [ECEC]: 4.5 Cmol kg−1 – 39.0 Cmol kg−1; cation exchange capacity [CEC]: 8.0 Cmol kg−1 – 34.0 Cmol kg−1) and food insecurity levels. In the last 5 years, urbanisation and industrialisation processes have reduced the farmlands by about 26.51% through uncontrolled construction of buildings and companies, leading to a disappearance of lands. Such dynamics raises the issue of a risk to food security in a region that usually provides more than 70% of fruits and vegetables demand for consumption. These results underline a need for a greater understanding of resilience for a better management design with a risk prevention plan to ensure food security.

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

10.1093/oso/9780198799283.003.0002 ◽

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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