Africa should discover strategies to improve food security, experts at the Indaba Agricultural Policy and Research Institute (IAPRI) have said.
Dr. Chance Kabaghe, Executive Director at IAPRI said evidence-based strategies should be identified to stabilise supplies, access to food, and livelihoods, in respond to increasingly variable climates.
The Institute said the strategies should be adapted and feasibly adopted by low-resource farmers and communities.
With wide range of micro-climates conditions found in sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Kabaghe said the private sector, governments and development partners need to partner on climate adaptation and resiliency efforts.
“It is unfortunate African farmers, consumers and the agricultural food systems are, particularly, vulnerable to climate-related shocks due to the region’s reliance on rain-fed agricultural production systems.”
Dr Kabaghe said unless the continent identify, adopt and adapt strategies, terms like ‘climate-smart agriculture, market-smart development and sustainable intensification’ will remain talk-show topics.
He said strategies should effectively guide governments and donor policies and programmes, adding that multi-sectoral cooperation will require framing, adaptation and mitigation plans that are climate-resilient.
Dr Kabaghe further said identifying existing knowledge gaps in various sectors is critical in addressing cross cutting issues affecting agricultural productivity.
Meanwhile IAPRI has partnered with two regional organisations to hold a regional sustainability summit to discuss available research evidence that may assist African governments put in place strategies to promote sustainable agricultural productivity.
Experts and policy-makers in the southern African region and the international community will gather from March 16-17 in Lusaka to deliberate on research findings, highlight promising response strategies, and identify unresolved issues for future research.
