In West Africa, climate change aggravates subsistence farmers’ vulnerability to weather variability to sustain their agricultural and nutritional requirements. For successful adaptation policies, in-depth understanding of farmers’ perceptions about climate change, agriculture, and adaptation strategies is essential. This qualitative study in rural Burkina Faso characterized farmers’ perceptions and knowledge through in-depth interviews. The study enumerated the barriers, possibilities, strategies/practices, and support sources of farmers. There was awareness but limited understanding of climate change amongst farmers. Those unable to adapt, faced increased health difficulties, specifically regarding nutrition and mental health. Farmers could implement some dietary and agricultural adaptation strategies (reduce meal size, frequency and variety, preemptive purchase of cereals, multi-cropping, crop rotation, modified seeds) but were unable to implement others (soil rehabilitation, water management). Barriers to implementation comprised financial and time constraints, material and labor shortages, and inaccessible information. Farmers did not understand, trust or utilize meteorological services, but appreciated and relied on agricultural extension services. They reported that social and governmental support was sporadic and inconsistent. This study uncovers the following targets for climate change adaptation policies in rural Burkina Faso: promoting meteorological services, expanding agricultural extension services, increasing access to financial resources, and framing sustainable adaptation within national development goals.

Climate change has an increasing impact on food security and child nutrition, particularly among rural smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Their limited resources and rainfall dependent farming practices make them sensitive to climate change-related effects. Data and research linking yield, human health, and nutrition are scarce but can provide a basis for adaptation and risk management strategies. In support of studies on child undernutrition in Burkina Faso, this study analyzed the potential of remote sensing-based yield estimates at household level. Multi-temporal Sentinel-2 data from the growing season 2018 were used to model yield of household fields (median 1.4 hectares (ha), min 0.01 ha, max 12.6 ha) for the five most prominent crops in the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance (HDSS) area in Burkina Faso. Based on monthly metrics of vegetation indices (VIs) and in-situ harvest measurements from an extensive field survey, yield prediction models for different crops of high dietary importance (millet, sorghum, maize, and beans) were successfully generated producing R² between 0.4 and 0.54 (adj. R² between 0.32 and 0.5). The models were spatially applied and resulted in a yield estimation map at household level, enabling predictions of up to 2 months prior to harvest. The map links yield on a 10-m spatial resolution to households and consequently can display potential food insecurity. The results highlight the potential for satellite imagery to provide yield predictions of smallholder fields and are discussed in the context of health-related studies such as child undernutrition and food security in rural Africa under climate change.

Climate change strongly impacts the agricultural sector in West Africa, threatening food security and nutrition, particularly for populations with the least adaptive capacity. Little is known about national climate change policies in the region. This systematic review identifies and analyses climate change policy documents in all 16 West African countries: (1) What are the existing climate change adaptation policies publicly available? (2) Which topics are addressed? (3) How are agriculture and food security framed and addressed? Following PRISMA guidelines, PubMed and Google scholar as key databases were searched with an extensive grey literature search. Keywords for searches were combinations of “Africa”, “Climate Change”, and “National Policy/Plan/Strategy/Guideline”. Fifteen countries have at least one national policy document on climate change in the frame of our study. Nineteen policy documents covered seven key sectors (energy, agriculture, water resources, health, forestry, infrastructure, and education), and eight thematic areas (community resilience, disaster risk management, institutional development, industry development, research and development, policy making, economic investment, and partnerships/collaboration). At the intersection of these sectors/areas, effects of changing climate on countries/populations were evaluated and described. Climate change adaptation strategies emerged including development of local risk/disaster plans, micro-financing and insurance schemes (public or private), green energy, and development of community groups/farmers organizations. No clear trend emerged when analysing the adaptation options, however, climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector was almost always included. Analysing agriculture, nutrition, and food security, seven agricultural challenges were identified: The small scale of West African farming, information gaps, missing infrastructure, poor financing, weak farmer/community organizations, a shifting agricultural calendar, and deteriorating environmental ecology. They reflect barriers to adaptation especially for small-scale subsistence farmers with increased climate change vulnerabilities. The study has shown that most West African countries have climate change policies. Nevertheless, key questions remain unanswered, and demand for further research, e.g., on evaluating the implementation in the respective countries, persists.