EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA

Climate change is expected to make agricultural development in Africa more challenging. Weather patterns are becoming less favorable in many instances, increasing the volatility of crop and livestock yields. The frequency and/or severity of extreme events is increasing as temperatures are projected to continue rising, and rainfall patterns are expected to shift more than they have already Exhibit.

Overall, Africa is vulnerable because of many of its crops, it is at the edge of physical thresholds beyond which yields decline. Moreover, a substantial portion of some countries’ economies (for example, one third of GDP for Ethiopia and one fifth of sub-Sahara Africa’s economic output) depends on agriculture. Finally, some aspects of adaptation may be challenging; for example, African farmers are generally more vulnerable to higher temperatures, fluctuations in rainfall, and variable yields than farmers in developed countries, who can usually more easily secure crop insurance, adjust what they plant, irrigate their fields, or apply crop protection chemicals and fertilizers.

What can African farmers do to mitigate the impact of climate change?

Higher volatility in the yields of major African food crops is likely to result in higher price volatility for both farmers and consumers. African countries are already working to counteract growing volatility, but better and more localized planning and financial mobilization will be key.

Modernizing Africa’s agriculture in the face of a changing climate will require significant investment. Investments in irrigation can increase the likelihood that farmers maintain yields even when the weather is unfavorable. Better roads can help connect markets, which would help farmers sell their crops at fair prices. Improvements in the functioning of seed production systems would provide farmers with new varieties of seed that are suited to new conditions. Upgraded crop-storage facilities would prevent spoilage and food waste.

Climate change’s varying effects on regions and crops underscore the importance of targeted planning on the part of governments, investors, and international donors. Today’s planning models have difficulty accounting for these effects. First, published projections of climate change’s impacts typically focus on 2050 or 2100—too far out to aid nearer-term decisions. Second, climate and economic models that focus on local contexts are less common than broader models. We believe that governments, companies, development banks, donors, and other organizations stand to benefit from bringing highly localized, commodity-specific forecasts into agricultural planning in Africa.

Wider access to agricultural financial instruments, such as crop insurance, would enable individual farmers and households to better manage climate-related risks.

Agricultural extension

Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. The field of ‘extension’ now encompasses a wider range of communication and learning activities organized for rural people by educators from different disciplines, including agriculture, agricultural marketing, health, and business studies.

Extension practitioners can be found throughout the world, usually working for government agencies. They are represented by several professional organizations, networks and extension journals.

Agricultural extension agencies in developing countries receive large amounts of support from international development organizations such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Origins of agricultural extension

It is not known where or when the first extension activities took place. It is known, however, that Chinese officials were creating agricultural policies, documenting practical knowledge, and disseminating advice to farmers at least 2,000 years ago. For example, in approximately 800 BC, the minister responsible for agriculture under one of the Zhou dynasty emperors organized the teaching of crop rotation and drainage to farmers. The minister also leased equipment to farmers, built grain stores and supplied free food during times of famine.

The birth of the modern extension service has been attributed to events that took place in Ireland in the middle of the 19th century. Between 1845–51 the Irish potato crop was destroyed by fungal diseases and a severe famine occurred. The British Government arranged for “practical instructors” to travel to rural areas and teach small farmers how to cultivate alternative crops. This scheme attracted the attention of government officials in Germany, who organized their own system of traveling instructors. By the end of the 19th century, the idea had spread to Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, and France.

The term “university extension” was first used by the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in 1867 to describe teaching activities that extended the work of the institution beyond the campus. Most of these early activities were not, however, related to agriculture. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century, when colleges in the United States started conducting demonstrations at agricultural shows and giving lectures to farmer’s clubs, that the term “extension service” was applied to the type of work that we now recognize by that name.

In the United States, the Hatch Act of 1887 established a system of agricultural experiment stations in conjunction with each state’s land-grant university, and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created a system of cooperative extension to be operated by those universities in order to inform people about current developments in agriculture, home economics, and related subjects.

In 1966 the National Sea Grant College Program was established and Bill Wick developed the first Marine Advisory Program in Oregon using the Extension model. The first Marine Extension agent was Bob Jacobsen, and was known as “an agricultural agent in hip-boots”.

 

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