Over-reliance on water infrastructure can hinder climate resilience in pastoral drylands

Savanna Africa is characterized by smallholding agricultural systems that produce a mixture of food and cash crops in a single season. Crops can be rotated, intermixed, or grown in specialized plots. In the former rainforests nearer the equator, crops such as cassava and maize are sown in close proximity to cocoa and oil palms, while tea is sometimes grown in specialized plots or in plantations. Traditionally, the cash crops of the savanna have been cotton and groundnuts, with cocoa, oil palm and tea in the forest areas. Various UNCTAD and FAO reports have recently drawn attention to the declining terms of trade for these products and the serious impact this has been having on the African economies concerned through loss of foreign-exchange earnings and the lack of replacement exports. UNCTAD now proposes that this dependence on a few basic exports should be overcome by domestic programmes of diversification and product development sponsored directly by African governments, as well as by international measures to reduce fluctuations in export earnings. This paper questions how these proposals might affect the various systems of smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Narrowing the rice yield gap in East and Southern Africa: Using and adapting existing technologies

Drought frequency is expected to increase in the coming decades due to climate change. Droughts are one of the most devastating natural disasters affecting food production, water resources and causing widespread human and animal mortalities. Sub-Saharan Africa is considered the most vulnerable region to climate change, due to low rainfall, long dry seasons and high levels of poverty. A systematic approach was used to search for published literature from 2008 to 2018 on the impacts of droughts on small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa from Ebscohost, Google Scholar and Web of Science internet search engines. To acquire relevant studies, the following keywords and Boolean operation combinations were used: GIS AND Remote Sensing OR drought OR small-scale farmers OR sub-Saharan Africa and only studies from 2008 to 2018 were selected. The impacts of droughts are far-reaching and affect the environment, societies and the economy of a country. There is limited reliable and comprehensive information on the impacts of droughts, which calls for research aimed at explaining the impacts of effect and how they can be predicted and mitigated. Improving drought preparedness and mitigation is an important precondition reducing the vulnerability of small-scale farmers and rural communities to the impacts of droughts.

We present an evidence-based approach to identify how best to support development of groundwater for small-scale irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We argue that it is important to focus this effort on shallow groundwater resources. We demonstrate and test this proposal at a case study site: Dangila woreda in the north-western highlands of Ethiopia. This site was selected to allow exploration of a shallow weathered volcanic regolith type aquifer formation which is found to the South of Lake Tana and also exists more extensively across Ethiopia. We believe lessons from this case study are transferable and there is a case for arguing that shallow groundwater represents a neglected opportunity for promoting sustainable small-scale irrigated agriculture in SSA.In comparison with other global regions, the groundwater resources of SSA are among the least understood; borehole records and hydrogeological studies are lacking. Assessments of groundwater resources do exist, but they rely on remotely sensed data combined with modelling at national or regional scale, and they focus on deeper aquifers. There is a need for these broad evaluations to be supplemented by localised and detailed assessments. The case study here presents such an assessment in order to support analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with developing small-scale irrigation utilising shallow groundwater.A multimethod groundwater recharge assessment was conducted utilising formal and community-based monitoring, field investigation and existing published data. Water table recovery tests at existing hand dug wells confirm that well yields of 1 l/s are achievable at the end of the wet season when water would be available to support an additional irrigated crop. Hydraulic conductivity estimates ranged from 0.2 to 6.4 m/d in the dry season and from 2.8 to 22.3 m/day in the wet season. Specific yield estimations have a wider range though the mean value of 0.09 is as would be expected.Records of groundwater levels and rainfall monitored by the local community for the period April 2014 to April 2018 show that all the wells maintained useable water levels beyond the end of the rainy season. An assessment of the hydrology of the Kilti catchment provided insights into groundwater availability within the wider area. The catchment receives about 1600 mm/year of rainfall, of which about 350 mm/year enters the groundwater as recharge, discharging to the river as baseflow with a similar amount of rapid runoff contributing to a total river flow of about 400 mm/year. The lowest value of baseflow is 82% of the mean baseflow, which suggests a degree of buffering and indicates that groundwater is available even in a very dry year.We conclude that arguments previously put forward against the promotion of shallow groundwater use for agriculture in SSA appear exaggerated. Our analysis challenges the view that shallow aquifers are unproductive and that irrigation will have unacceptable impacts on wetlands and other groundwater-dependent ecosystems. We believe lessons from this case study are transferable, and there is a case for arguing that shallow groundwater represents a neglected opportunity for promoting sustainable small-scale irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. It appears that factors other than the physical availability of groundwater control the ‘triggering’ of development. Interventions to promote development of groundwater resources should recognise the importance of shallow aquifers.

Aquaculture practices from sub-Saharan Africa are characterised by low production, owing to improper technology. Production can be increased through integrating fish farming with other existing on-farm activities, particularly livestock husbandry. We assessed the role of fish-poultry integration on all male Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus growth performance, yields and economic benefits among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania. The study also compared phytoplankton species composition, abundance and biomass between the fish-poultry integration and non-integrated system. After 180 days of the experiment, all male O. niloticus cultured under fish-poultry integration exhibited significantly higher growth rates than those in the non-integrated system (p < 0.05). Gross fish yield (GFY), net fish yield (NFY) and net annual yields (NAY) obtained from fish-poultry integration were significantly higher than those from non-integrated system (p < 0.05). Partial enterprise budget analysis revealed that fish-poultry integration was more profitable than the non-integrated system. Moreover, fish-poultry integrated system produced significantly higher phytoplankton abundance and biomass than those from the non-integrated system. Results demonstrate that rural smallholder farmers can achieve higher growth rate, farm net yields and income by integrating all male O. niloticus with other on-farm activities than practising a stand-alone fish culture system.

With the ever-growing urgency of food insecurity and the threat of climate change, there is increasing interest in using artificial intelligence for Earth observations (AI-EO) for agriculture, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper provides an overview of the primary research areas within AI-EO for agriculture in SSA. %(cropland and crop type classification, field boundary delineation, yield estimation, and pest/disease monitoring). We discuss examples and limitations of current research and opportunities for future work. In addition, we identify ten key considerations for future efforts involving AI-EO for agriculture in SSA.

Introduction: Climate change is a global phenomenon that is one of the key issues our globe faces in the twenty-first century to feed nine to ten billion people sustainably by 2050. It is a common and dynamic phenomenon caused by complex and interconnected physical, environmental, and human elements. Because it relies on agriculture and natural resources, warmer baseline conditions, low precipitation, and limited ability to adapt, Sub-Saharan Africa is regarded as the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Climate change affects and contributes significantly to food and agriculture. Sub-Saharan Africa is a rapidly developing region with a population of over 900 million people and a diverse ecological, meteorological, and cultural variety. It boasts the world's youngest and fastest-increasing population, and it is the only region where the rural population, particularly rural youth, will continue to expand past 2050. Methods: My systematic searches were based on past review methods, which included using database platforms or bibliographic databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, CAB abstracts, Science Direct, and JSTOR. I also ran a Google Scholar search. My searches were all restricted to Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, I gathered all search results and reviewed all articles retrieved using preset inclusion criteria. I found over 50 publications, including key FAO and World Bank reports, that answered the highlighted problems. All articles were screened twice (title and abstract, then full-text), with consistency checks at each stage. Relevant publications were read critically, and meta-data and quantitative data were extracted and entered into a database. All included studies were reported narratively, and those that matched the meta-analysis requirements were presented descriptively. Review Findings: More than 80% of the research agreed that climate change and its implications are current problems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of them forecast predicted changes in population numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa and the related demand for food, as well as examine major climate changes and explain how these changes may affect food production. Food demand in Sub-Saharan Africa is increasing due to socioeconomic and population growth. To increase food security and demand in the face of predicted demographic, economic, and environmental changes, aggressive measures are required. Although international food demand is expected to climb by 60% by 2050 compared to 2005/2007, the increase in Sub-Saharan Africa would be substantially bigger. Food prices in many Sub-Saharan African nations are rising faster than household incomes and other economic prospects. Food demand typically rises with urbanization as the population shifts from rural, presumably food-producing, to urban, primarily for food consumption. Conclusions: Sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as the most susceptible not only because of its significant exposure to severe climate change but also because many of its inhabitants cannot respond to or adapt to the effects of climate change. Over 90% of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is rain-fed, and subsistence is neither technically nor financially robust enough to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, with little room for adaptation. As a result of this analysis, Sub-Saharan Africa is confirmed to be the most vulnerable region to climate change. As a result, governments and development organizations should focus on developing and implementing policies and programs that encourage farm-based adaptation techniques, and then they should be implemented and disseminated with farmers' participation.

On agricultural sustainability and its measurement in small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa

Across the African continent efforts to intensify agriculture have been limited to specific commodities, locations or particular production schemes. The causes for the widespread failure to overcome low land and labor productivity while maintaining ecosystem services have often be analyzed but remain poorly understood. A social-ecological system approach may help to better understand the complex nature of ecological disadvantages, postcolonial structures, limited connect between producers and consumer markets, low off-farm livelihood opportunities, partial underpopulation and lacking experience with the concept of sustainable production as a major impediment for sustainable intensification of the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, recent success stories in agro-pastoral systems as well as urban vegetable and animal production and associated value chains in West Africa, and in intensive mixed-cropping systems of the Great Lakes Region show the potential of stakeholder-driven agricultural intensification. Proper interpretation of these cases may provide lessons for a more widespread eco-intensification of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper examines the design of rainfall-harvesting schemes that could be implemented to improve the availability of water in certain developing regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The focus of the paper is on the evaluation of rainfall distribution patterns in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Rainfall harvesting is a sustainable water supply alternative in the developing, as well as in the developed countries of the world. In the developed regions domestic rainfall harvesting is primarily a means for supplementing other sources of water (usually for non-potable water uses). This paper also highlights the activities of non-governmental organizations in the development and implementation of in-country (location specific) appropriate technologies for water supply. These groups fund and implement small projects which solve basic water and environmental engineering problems in small communities in developing areas. Usually the goal is to use in-country appropriate technologies to formulate innovative solutions to problems. In a recent study, the National Research Council, identified integrated water management as a high priority development requirement in its list of emerging technologies that would benefit farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The study also stressed the need to address water shortage and access to water resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the number of people without access to water services will increase from 300 million (in 2003) to 400 million by the year 2020. This paper will also provide an overview of the water resources inventory and distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa to emphasize the need for small-scale, community based water supply alternatives for developing areas in this region. The paper focuses on implementable solutions particularly tailored for the region. These solutions are termed “location-appropriate” and therefore employ locally available resources, whenever possible, to achieve solutions that are costeffective, sustainable and efficient. It addresses the need to analyze the temporal and spatial variation of precipitation in the design of viable rainfall harvesting systems. 1 2073 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009: Great Rivers © 2009 ASCE

Developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), remain marginalized in global carbon markets despite significant mitigation opportunities in agriculture and forestry. The economic potential for mitigation through agriculture in the African region is estimated at 17 per cent of the total global mitigation potential for the sector. Similarly, Africa's forestry potential is 23 per cent of the global total for the sector. To unleash the huge potential for mitigation in SSA, carbon markets should be expanded to include projects related to agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU). Given the important synergies between agricultural mitigation and adaptation, and the difficulties in reaching out to smallholder farmers and herders, as well as the increasing poverty and hunger in the region, this article suggests that not only should carbon markets be expanded to include more AFOLU project types, but carbon markets should also increase benefits directed at smallholder farmers. Domestic policies in SSA should also be reformed to increase the profitability of environmentally sustainable practices that generate income for small producers and create investment flows for rural communities. This review paper provides an overview of global carbon markets, focusing on opportunities for carbon trading in agriculture in SSA. Major constraints to the participation of SSA in global carbon markets are discussed, and options for integrating the region into global carbon markets are proposed.

Grassroots institutions (GRIs) are mechanisms available to smallholder farmers to coordinate activities both horizontally (among members) and vertically (between members and other value chain actors, inside or outside the community). These organizations can reduce transaction costs by creating economies of scale for input supply, technological transfer, or joint marketing, or by facilitating concerted action between farmers (Staal et al. 1998). Established in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during the colonial period in the form of cooperatives, GRIs became a means of promoting production and facilitating the collection of cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton, and vanilla for export. Although farmers were already organized in groups to address social and community constraints, the colonial period leveraged these indigenous institutions to introduce market orientation functions and formalized them by establishing bureaucratic links with local and central authorities.

Land degradation, rising population and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa threatens the agricultural sustainability and productivity, quality of the environment and socio-economic wellbeing of rural populations. We studied farm ecological, economic and social sustainability, productivity and production risks in the Mbeere District of Eastern Kenya. We used a soil nutrient monitoring methodology to collect data from 30 households. Ecological sustainability was threatened by soil nutrient decline at rates of 1.7 kg P and 5.4 kg K ha−1 half year−1 while N was nearly balanced in soils. Soil phosphorus and potassium stocks, in the cultivated soils, declined at rates of 0.3% and 0.1% half year−1, respectively. Farm economic returns were positive, albeit low, and could not sustain the livelihoods of the households. All the 30 households were living below the poverty line of 1 US dollar a day. Farm productivity was low, with livestock and yields of major staple food crops below on-farm target yields. To spread out the risks of production, farming households were cultivating an average of 4.7 crop fields, keeping more than two types of livestock and practising intercropping systems. Intercropping maize-beans reduced nutrient decline and raised household incomes compared with monocropping of either of the two crops. Despite the low rates of nutrient decline, high risks of production and the low crop yields, the livestock productivity and farm economic performance put the sustainability of these farming systems into question. The low levels of nutrient decline in small farms averaging at 1.7 kg P and 5.4 kg K ha−1 half year−1 contrasts with the high nutrient depletion rates on macro-scale levels, e.g. 20–40 N, 3.5–6.6 kg P and 20–40 kg K ha−1 year−1 for Eastern African countries and 22 kg N, 2.5 kg P and 15 kg K ha−1 year−1 for sub-Saharan Africa. These findings indicate that the extent of nutrient decline and conservation differs across sub-Saharan Africa. The positive contribution of intercropping to nutrient balances suggests the need to encourage farmers to adopt such systems rather than monocropping.

Background: Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including droughts, floods, and pest outbreaks, which threaten yields, incomes, and food security. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to enhance productivity, adaptation/resilience, and mitigation, yet adoption remains limited due to resource constraints. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools come as a game-changer to make CSA more accessible and effective for farmers with small farms. Aim: This systematic review synthesises empirical evidence on AI-enabled CSA interventions and their impacts on smallholder resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: PRISMA 2020 guidelines were followed, with searches on Scopus, Web of Science, CAB Abstracts, Google Scholar, and AGRICOLA for studies published between 2015 and 2025. Eligible records were those with evidence of AI applications linked to CSA practices and resilience outcomes in smallholders. After screening 1,301 records, nine studies/reports made it to the final inclusion and were assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Results were synthesised narratively. Results: The nine included sources (covering Kenya, Tanzania, Mali, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Ghana) describe four main AI intervention types: image-based pest/disease detection, advisory chatbots, precision resource management apps, and predictive modelling. These models have already been used by hundreds to tens of thousands of farmers. Reported impacts include yield increases (e.g., +0.9–1 t/ha for rice, up to 25% for wheat), income gains ($200–600/ha), reduced input waste, and improved adaptation to shocks. All interventions align strongly with CSA pillars, particularly productivity and adaptation, with mitigation benefits from efficiency gains. Conclusion: AI-enabled CSA shows that it can be transformative for enhancing smallholder resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa, delivering modest but meaningful short-term gains in yields, incomes, and climate adaptation. Effects are positive, although it depends on the context of application, constrained by digital barriers. Policymakers and developers should prioritise inclusive, mobile-based scaling. Further long-term, rigorous studies are essential to confirm durability and broaden geographic coverage.

Agricultural production on smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is hampered by countless challenges, chief among which is soil degradation due to unsustainable farming practices, inadequate technical and financial support, and climate change. Moreover, the ever-increasing African population, which is directly proportional to an increase in the demand for food, makes the situation grimmer. This has consequently resulted in the active search for alternative approaches to agricultural production that do not only ensure that there is enough food at the table but do so sustainably. One such approach that has attracted the interest of researchers, funders and policymakers is sustainable intensification. However, there have been numerous discussions and debates on the usefulness of this concept in increasing crops yields for African farmers, with some opponents going as far as labelling the approach an oxymoron. Therefore, it is important to assess the potential of the concept to not only sustainably feed the rural population but deliver food from the soil to their forks from an African perspective. Therefore, this chapter highlights key sustainable intensification approaches across sub-Saharan Africa that have resulted in significant yield gains across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and discusses policy issues required to promote this concept.