For anyone who has witnessed the conditions in which smallholder African farmers survive, the threat posed by climate change is frightening.
In the nine countries in which Self Help Africa works, no-one is in any doubt that the change has arrived – and farmers are the first to see what the future holds.
There are around 80 million small farms on the continent, and up to 75% of all Africans rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
In the last few years, new investment in farming brought improved harvests – last year, there was a 3.5% increase in output from the continent, mostly from small farms.
But African agriculture is particularly vulnerable to a change in growing conditions. Less than 4% of agricultural land is irrigated, so production is heavily dependent on the timing and quantity of rain.
Climate change will bring more droughts and more floods. Staple crops may be unable to cope
with the increase in temperatures, and yields will fall by up to 40%. There will be greater numbers of pests and soil fertility will drop.
The greatest irony is that the people most at risk from climate change live in countries that have contributed the least to the atmospheric build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
Texas, with a population of 23 million, emits more carbon dioxide than all 720 million residents of sub-Saharan Africa.
For African farmers, the challenge is to find ways to adapt to this change as it happens, as most of them simply don’t have the resources to play catch-up. For Self Help Africa, the challenge is to develop new adaptation strategies for the communities in which we work.
We do this by listening to farmers as they share their discoveries, by linking in with research institute programs, and by sharing lessons with other organizations.
Farmers are on the front line of climate change, but the way in which they work – from the amount and type of crops they plant to the way in which they till the land and protect natural resources, including rainforests, can help to cut carbon levels.
|
