Agriculture and Africa: an overview

The purpose of this post is to provide context to the current agricultural landscape of Africa drawing upon food insecurity. Whilst also addressing the biases often made when talking about the continent. I hope this will frame the farming scene, provide context for future posts and reveal an insight into the unconscious biases that we all may have fallen guilty to. 

Food for thought

Before we begin on the topic of today's post , I would like to pause and reflect on how Africa is often wrongfully represented. The media often minimises Africa to that of a hot dusty landscape, with ‘huge herds of animals’, ‘starving children’ and ‘corrupt politicians'.  Why is Africa portrayed in this light? Have we not moved away from such stereotypes and constant prejudice? Here, I ask you all to please pause and reflect on your own thoughts, and comment if you notice anything out of place. It is through open conversation and awareness that we can put a stop to the wrongful representation of Africa and this blog is a platform for this to be possible. 

Now, back to business...

Agricultural landscape 

As discussed in the previous post, we know that an overwhelming proportion of Africa’s groundwater (83%) is used for agricultural purposes. So, it was not much of a surprise to discover that 48% of the total African population is employed by the agricultural sector. 80% of  farms being less than two hectares in size, and belonging to subsistence farmers. Such farms are responsible for feeding their household and can grow their livelihoods through selling crops at local markets. Significantly, subsistence farms are not reliant on heavy machinery, tractors or irrigation  so it is important to remember that many of these farmers do not have any control over the water their crops receive. In fact, less than 7% of Africa’s arable land is irrigated and less than 3.7% Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the diverseness of the continent, and each country holding its own specific agro-climatic zones with unique rainfall patterns, the majority of crop yields are dependent on precipitation levels. 

Food insecurity and Africa

Famine. Malnutrition. Two words, too often associated with Africa. Historically speaking, I can see why. Today, 1 in 4 undernourished people live in Africa, the equivalent of over 218 million individuals. This number has decreased, but is still shockingly high, especially when you consider that by 2030 SDG 2 aims to achieve “zero hunger”. Unfortunately, we are not on track. To make matters even worse, we are not on track to achieve SDG 6 either, “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. Both need to be achieved, alongside all the others, to solve food insecurity in Africa (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The sustainable development goals

However, it is crucial to understand that the intersectionality between food insecurity and water scarcity is not actually as prevalent as it may seem. There are other external factors that also contribute to food insecurity. Zimbabwe, for example, has experienced the worst hunger crisis of the decade. This is down to partially, weather extremes (specifically cyclone Idai) but also due to economic shocks of the increased prices of Maize in 2019. Zimbabwe is one of the cases, where food availability, and entitlement would be the answer to preventing famine and poverty, opposed to needing access to more water. Alternatively, in the case of the 2019 famine in Nigeria, provision of water to the population was determined by economics rather than the dependence on available freshwater.  

Either way, it is important to recognise that famines are preventable. Through improving access to the physical and economic management of both food and water, it is possible to introduce agricultural practises that can prepare for water shortages, and ensure food security. 

As this blog progresses we will delve into technological advancements and innovative irrigation methods, to understand how to overcome the puzzle of water and food in Africa.