Agricultural diversification as an important strategy for achieving food security in Africa

Abstract

Farmers in Africa have long adapted to climatic and other risks by diversifying their farming activities. Using a multi‐scale approach, we explore the relationship between farming diversity and food security and the diversification potential of African agriculture and its limits on the household and continental scale. On the household scale, we use agricultural surveys from more than 28,000 households located in 18 African countries. In a next step, we use the relationship between rainfall, rainfall variability, and farming diversity to determine the available diversification options for farmers on the continental scale. On the household scale, we show that households with greater farming diversity are more successful in meeting their consumption needs, but only up to a certain level of diversity per ha cropland and more often if food can be purchased from off‐farm income or income from farm sales. More diverse farming systems can contribute to household food security; however, the relationship is influenced by other factors, for example, the market orientation of a household, livestock ownership, nonagricultural employment opportunities, and available land resources. On the continental scale, the greatest opportunities for diversification of food crops, cash crops, and livestock are located in areas with 500–1,000 mm annual rainfall and 17%–22% rainfall variability. Forty‐three percent of the African cropland lacks these opportunities at present which may hamper the ability of agricultural systems to respond to climate change. While sustainable intensification practices that increase yields have received most attention to date, our study suggests that a shift in the research and policy paradigm toward agricultural diversification options may be necessary.

Sustainable intensification and diversification options with grain legumes for smallholder farming systems in the Guinea savanna of Ghana

“…Food self-sufficiency was calculated as the ratio of the total energy produced by a farm household to the total energy requirement of the household over a period of 12 months (daily adult equivalent energy requirement of all members of a household multiplied by 365 days). This excluded the amount of food households may have purchased with onfarm or off-farm income (Waha et al, 2018). A ratio of 1.0 indicates that the household is food self-sufficient, below 1.0 the household is food deficient while 0.5 and below means the household is unable to meet half of its annual food requirement.…”

“…Nevertheless, intensification and diversification options will require socio-economic and biophysical considerations Frelat et al, 2016;Waha et al, 2018). First, improved market access and availability of the relevant inputs (especially inoculant and P) are needed.…”

“…On the other hand, the intensification and diversification options appear feasible under the prevailing agro-ecological conditions in each region. For instance, the mean seasonal rainfall amounts (827 -1,020 mm; Table 5.2) are adequate with reference to the rainfall needed as potential condition for such intensification of crop production in sub-Saharan Africa (Waha et al, 2018). The soil nutrient limitations (Table 5.2) remain a concern, especially in Scenarios II and III that involves intensification of maize as well.…”

“…In UER where arable land is less available, grain legume and cereal sole crop intensification systems are of utmost importance to increase food production per unit area in order to increase food sufficiency . However, diversification through intercropping of maize with grain legume is valuable for food diversity (de Jager et al, 2017;Waha et al, 2018), increased yield as shown in Scenario II. Diversification is also essential for insurance against climate stresses and crop failure (Rusinamhodzi et al, 2012; as observed in the baseline.…”

“…Smallholder farm households in the Guinea savanna of West Africa, and in Africa in general have been at the mercy of climate variability and change due to the overwhelming reliance on rainfed agriculture. This in addition to poor fertility of soils and the subsequent adverse impact on crop yields make the achievement of food security by most farm households a distant target (Frelat et al, 2016;Waha et al, 2018). The single cropping season in the Guinea savanna makes the impact of climate variability and change a more critical concern for achieving food self-sufficiency.…”