Business Review Afrika, takes a closer look at the effect of Climate Change on Agriculture and food security

Climate change is a present and growing threat to food security and nutrition in Africa and is a particularly severe threat to countries relying heavily on agriculture.

In general, reduced precipitation and higher temperatures are already affecting negatively on the yields of staple food crops, although there is some spatial diversity.

By 2050, climate change will cause another 71 million people to be food insecure in the world, over half of whom will be in sub-Saharan Africa Climate change is a fundamental challenge that Africa policy-makers and stakeholders must address.

African ecosystems are already being affected by climate change and future impacts are expected to be substantial. The African continent is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and in part because of the high levels of poverty and food security that exist.

Climate change can have a serious and adverse effect on smallholder farmers as many of them get their daily sustenance from agricultural products Climate change is expected to worsen food security and nutrition. Among the developing countries, Southern Asia and Africa would be the most exposed to an increased risk of hunger.

For the latter region, predictions are that 157million people will be at risk of hunger by 2050 without climate change and 196 million with climate change. Indeed, about 54 percent of the predicted increase in the number of undernourished will be in Africa, and in particular in sub-Saharan Africa.

Climate change is expected to worsen food security and nutrition Among the developing countries, Southern Asia and Africa would be the most exposed to an increased risk of hunger.

Our take, action at International, Regional and National Level is required to mitigate the effect of Climate change on food security and Agriculture. Another important aspect is the provision of climate information services and data.

In Africa, significant gaps exist in location specific, reliable, and user-friendly weather forecast information.

Lack of accurate information can affect negatively on agriculture.

Early weather forecast reporting is key. The threat of increasing poverty and hunger make climate change adaptation (CCA) and mitigation in the food and agricultural sectors a top priority for African policy- makers and stakeholders.

What is the way forward? How can African policy-makers address the issue of Climate change?

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