Climate change: What options are available for Agriculture in Africa (An Opinion)

‘The seasons are shifting’, I said to my father back in 2009. Without missing a beat, he replied telling me it was impossible for me to make such a conclusion, “you can only say that after studying the weather patterns for at least 25 years” he said. Older and wiser he is, but I got to understand that what I spoke of was climate change. A term that was not common during my years in High school. I cannot say, without a doubt, that at that time the seasons had shifted, but there was an undeniable difference. Now the world over, the changes are definitely being felt and a crisis is at hand. What are the changes? How bad are they? Are the effects worth making any noise about? What about Africa, what does climate change mean for her?

Climate change is generally described as the adjustment of climatic systems over a long period of time resulting in a shift of weather patterns. These changes have devastating effects on the biodiversity and ecological systems of the natural environment. Rising sea levels, longer summers and reduction in sea ice are current observable changes which were all predicted by scientists. It is projected that within the next 100 to 150yrs, average global temperatures will increase by up to 7°C, maybe more. Some challenges associated with climate change include late rainfall and droughts. However, psychological distance creates a problem with respect to the urgency with which this matter should be addressed. An undesirably high number of people including leaders of nations do not believe the reality that lies with climate change, let alone its urgency.

The greatest challenge Africa will have to face is the agricultural implications of climate change. The Fulani herdsmen of Nigeria are quite possibly a significant example of some of the socio-economic effects of climate change in Africa. The conflicts with surrounding cultural groups have resulted in human deaths and looting of livestock as natural resources essential for grazing have depleted drastically. Food security is also under threat as climate change affects farming activities. This in turn poses a threat to economies that rely on agricultural production.

With such consequences looming, what strategies can we employ to mitigate the gloom ahead of us. Recent technological advancements have seen the rise of practical systems employed in agriculture to limit cost, use of water and land. Hydroponics for example does not require the use of soil as plants are grown in nutrient rich solutions in climate controlled rooms. This eliminates the need for large spaces of land and expensive complex irrigation systems. In addition, the implementation of genetically modified food crops has shown promising outcomes with respect to food security. Therefore, genetic modification can be successfully implemented to allow food crops to thrive better in hotter and drier climates.

Another solution lies right under our feet, literally, in the form of plant-microbe interactions. Studies into plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) are rife and prove to potentially solve more than just an issue of availability of food. PGPB offer possibilities to eliminate the use of nitrogen based fertilisers, reduced dependency on water and an improved tolerance to diseases. Investigations indicate that seeds inoculated with PGPB have higher yields compared to the control and nitrogen fertiliser fed seeds. Challenges are still present with implementation as bacterial inoculants are harder to monitor, however, there is great potential with microbiology in agriculture.

This is barely a convincing opinion to begin a conversation on climate change, but is it perhaps enough to ask questions on the true extent of climate change? Are we able to exploit the current resources to our benefit? Perhaps it is time we stop worrying about the impending doom but prepare for it while also trying to reduce the detrimental effects. Science holds great opportunities for Africa and we are the scientists of Africa.

Written by Paida

B.Sc. (Honours) in Microbiology

M. Health Sciences

Ph.D Candidate in Biological Sciences

Disclaimer: This article is purely the opinion of the writer and is in no way a reflection on the values of this website.