In 2021, one in five people in Africa was affected by hunger, and the continent had the highest prevalence of undernourished people globally. We argue that food systems in Africa can be more resilient if their development includes climate adaptation.The European Union through the African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE).https://www.nature.com/commsenvhj2024Plant Production and Soil ScienceSDG-02:Zero Hunge

Korsten, Lise

Odongo, Dorine

Ogega, Obed M.

Oti-Boateng, Peggy

Thorn, Jessica

UPSpace at the University of Pretoria

communications earth & environment Commenthttps://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01250-9How to transform Africa’s food systemObed M. Ogega, Lise Korsten, Peggy Oti-Boateng, Dorine Odongo & Jessica Thorn Check for updatesIn 2021, one in five people in Africa was affected byhunger, and the continent had the highestprevalence of undernourished people globally. Weargue that food systems in Africa can be moreresilient if their development includes climateadaptation.About 64%of the world’s available arable land is inAfrica1. The continent isalso host to a young workforce2, and a range of traditional agriculturalpractices and emerging technologies that can revolutionize food productionand trade. Yet, the number of undernourished African people is rising, withan increase from15.5% to20.3%between2010 and20213.Thepopulation inSub-SaharanAfrica is expected to almost double by 2050, to reach about 2.1billion people4, which will further increase demand for food. While effortsare being made to enhance Africa’s food security and resilience, existingfood systems have not properly addressed its needs and priorities5.We propose five pathways to help shape and transform Africa’s foodsystems, drawing on ideas discussed at a session at the Adaptation FuturesConferenceheld inOctober 2023 inMontreal,Canada thatwas convenedbythe African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence programme6. Thepathways range from the development of food systems on urban fringes torevamping urban agroforestry policy and practices; reforming land usepolicies; investing in research, technology, and innovation; andminimizinginequalities in adaptive capacity strengthening.Develop food systems on urban fringes using greeninfrastructurePeri-urban spaces in Africa have rapidly grown over the last three decades,not only in big cities such as Dar es Salaam, Tanzania7 and Accra, Ghana8,but also in small municipalities such as Wa in north-western Ghana9. By2050, African cities are expected to accommodate an additional 950millionpeople10, highlighting the urgent need for implementation of sustainableand smart urban food systems to feed this growing population. One way toreach this goal is to use all available urban spaces for food productionincluding vertical walls, rooftops, community gardens, and vacant lots.Growing vegetables and fruits in controlled environments, such as in con-tainers or hydroponically by feeding themnutrientmineral salts dissolved inwater, also presents an opportunity for sustainable foodproduction. Theuseof climate-smart agriculture techniques by, for instance, using droughttolerant crop varieties and drip irrigation, can significantly contribute to thesupply of fresh produce in urban areas.Working with local communities and relevant private sector actors iscrucial to fostering a sense of ownership and collective responsibility andensuring that initiatives are tailored to local needs for long-termmaintenance and success. The public-private partnerships can help securefunding and technical support to overcome the challenges of implementingperi-urban agricultural practices. For instance, the City of TshwaneMetropolitan Municipality in Gauteng province, South Africa, hasdemonstrated how one-on-one extension programmes and the revitaliza-tion of local traditional institutions can help develop successful climate-smart adaptative strategies. Public and private sector actors can partner toimplement agricultural development support programs that build thecapacity of smallholder farmers through demonstration projects andlearning activities11.Revamp urban agroforestry policy and practicesThe integration of trees with crops and/or livestock via agroforestry hasproven to be an effective multifunctional approach to food production andconservation12. One of the notable examples of agroforestry initiatives is theparklands system in the Sahelian zone ofWestAfricawhere crops are grownunder a discontinuous cover of scattered trees13, thus providing a buffer toextreme climate events that can sustain agricultural production. In northernTanzania, multi-storeyed agroforestry cropping systems integrate severalshrubs and trees with food crops and animals on the slopes of MountKilimanjaro14,15.For agroforestry initiatives to thrive, urban (agro) forestry policyreforms should provide an environment that enables the development ofintegrated urban farming and good practices for their application12. Thepolicy reforms should address issues such as land tenure and ownership,high agroforestry investment costs, and limited availability and access totraining16,17. Training programs and workshops on agroforestry techniquescan equip urban farmers with the knowledge and skills needed to maintainsustainable tree-crop systems. Agroecological practices such as organicfarming or polyculture within urban agroforestry systems should beencouraged to increase yield and minimize environmental impacts.Reform land use policiesAfrica’s high population growth rate, coupled with the resulting urbanexpansion, puts agricultural land at risk of encroachment. For instance,Egypt’s Nile Delta lost 74,600 hectares of fertile agricultural land to urbanexpansion between 1992 and 201518. This is a significant loss in a countrywhere about 96% of the total land area is an uninhabited desert19. Hence,implementation of robust land use policies and regulations, such as zoningin which an area is divided into specific land-use zones, is required topreserve agricultural land and help meet the current and future fooddemands20.Urbanization guidelines and policies should encourage high densityresidential development, limit urban expansion, and designate green spacesand agricultural land. A good example where controlled urbanization hasworked is in Egypt’s Nile River Valley and Delta where urban expansion isCommunications Earth & Environment |            (2024) 5:82 11234567890():,;1234567890():,;now limited to desert areas to minimize loss of agricultural land18. Otherinterventions include improving land tenure security to incentivize com-munities and landowners to keep their land in agricultural productionFigure 1. Additionally, real estate developers should invest in urban rede-velopment projects in previously built-up areas rather than greenfield sites.Focussing on brownfield sites contributes to the protection of agriculturalland and thus enables sustainable development.Invest in technology, research, and innovationAfrica spends about 4.3%of its total public spendingonAgriculture—fallingshort of the 10% target of the 2014 “Malabo declaration on AcceleratedAgricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity andImproved Livelihoods”21,22. Under the Comprehensive Africa AgricultureDevelopment Programme framework, African countries are required toincrease their agriculture spending toat least 10%of their public expenditureby the year 202522.More investments areneeded to facilitate the transitionofAfrican agriculture from labor-intensive, low-productivity activities toskills-intensive approaches23 and build a resilient African food system.Other relevant interventions include shifting the narrative from foodavailability to the development of resilient food systems by ensuring thatfarming is intensive, climate-smart, and technology-enabled24. Efficiencyimprovement in Africa’s food system is required in areas such as produc-tion, storage, processing, and packaging of foods23. Digital technologiesshould be leveraged to deliver agricultural information and training toremote areas and expand access to capital and resources. For instance,smallholder farmers can rent farm equipment such as tractors throughmobile applications that would, otherwise, be too costly to own. The digitaltechnologies can also help integrate smallholder farmers into the agri-cultural value chain as well as improve efficiencies25,26.Considering the pivotal role played by agricultural research in agri-food systems, food system transformation requires intentional and targetedinvestment and innovation capacity strengthening27,28. Scientific exchangesin Africa and beyond should be strengthened to facilitate awareness oftechnological and scientific advances in the transformation of the foodsystem and contribute to investments in the creation of locally relevanturban food systems.Additionally, education programs should be adapted tobenefit from industry expertise, good practices, and emerging technologiesthrough innovative initiatives. For instance, demonstration farms haveshown great potential to revolutionize Africa’s agriculture by providing aplatform for technology transfer and peer-to-peer learning29.Reduce inequalities and enhance inclusive adaptivecapacityExisting social and structural inequalities perpetuate differential impactsand responses to shocks and stressors on various social groups, includingwomen, indigenous communities, and smallholder farmers30. Moreover,disparities in gendered roles in land ownership and access to credit,financialservices, markets, and agricultural labor influence the degree of exposureand sensitivity to disruptions in food security31. Hence, strengthening ofinclusive adaptive capacity of both communities and systems can enhancefood system resilience in the context of a changing climate.In 2018, women accounted for just 33.3% of researchers globally and33.5% in sub-Saharan Africa32,33. This calls for more investment in buildinggender-responsive research and innovation capacities for both individualsand institutions to ensure that food system innovations are locally relevant,equitable, and inclusive. Women with young children should be able toparticipate in capacity building initiatives by getting access to a caregiver,minimizing barriers such as gendered mobilities and immobilities34 andenhancing inclusivity.Achieving food security entails ensuring that all people have physical,social, and economic access to safe and nutritious food at all times, allowingthemto lead active andhealthy lives. If adequatemeasures are implemented,Africa can become a food secure continent and shift from being a primaryfood importer to a net food exporting continent, contributing to feedingthe world.ObedM. Ogega 1,2 , Lise Korsten1,3, Peggy Oti-Boateng1,Dorine Odongo4 & Jessica Thorn5,61The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya. 2Department ofChemistry &Physics,Mount Saint VincentUniversity, Halifax, NS, Canada.3University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. 4African Women inAgricultural Research and Development, Nairobi, Kenya. 5Department ofEnvironmental Sciences, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.6School of Geography and Sustainable Development, the University of StAndrews, St. Andrews, UK. e-mail: obed.matundura@gmail.comReceived: 19 November 2023; Accepted: 31 January 2024;References1. AfDB. Feed Africa. https://bit.ly/4a6VHex (2019).2. United Nations. Young People’s Potential, the Key to Africa’s Sustainable Development.https://bit.ly/3QFqWWi (2021).3. FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP &WHO. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022.(FAO). https://doi.org/10.4060/cc0639en (2022).4. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D.World Population Prospects2022: Summary of Results. https://bit.ly/3FHsAjV (2022).5. Alarcon, P., Dominguez-Salas, P., Fèvre, E. M. &Rushton, J. The importance of a food systemsapproach to low and middle income countries and emerging economies: a review of theoriesand its relevance for disease control and malnutrition. Front Sustain Food Syst. 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.642635 (2021).6. Ogega,O. Insights from theAfricanResearch Initiative forScientificExcellence.Nat.Afr.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00208-x# (2023).7. Briggs, J. &Mwamfupe, D. Peri-urbanDevelopment in an Era of Structural Adjustment in Africa:The City of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Urban Stud. 37, 797–809 (2000).8. Doan, P. &Oduro, C. Y. Patterns of population growth in Peri‐UrbanAccra, Ghana. Int. J. UrbanReg. Res. 36, 1306–1325 (2012).9. Dapilah, F., Nielsen, J. Ø. & Akongbangre, J. N. Peri-urban transformation and shared naturalresources: the case of shea trees depletion and livelihood in Wa municipality, NorthwesternGhana. Afr. Geograph. Rev. 38, 374–389 (2019).10. OECD/SWAC. Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2020. (OECD). https://doi.org/10.1787/b6bccb81-en (2020).Fig. 1 | Agroforestry and land optimization. A hillside farm at Andasibe, Mada-gascar as seen in December 2023. Photo: Linnus Ngine, African Academy ofSciences.communications earth & environment CommentCommunications Earth & Environment |            (2024) 5:82 211. Chitakira, M. & Ngcobo, N. Z. P. Uptake of Climate Smart Agriculture in Peri-Urban Areas ofSouth Africa’s Economic Hub Requires Up-Scaling. Front Sustain Food Syst 5, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2013.10.014. (2021).12. Mbow, C. et al. Agroforestry solutions to address food security and climate change challengesin Africa. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain. 6, 61–67 (2014).13. Bayala, J., Sanou, J., Teklehaimanot, Z., Kalinganire, A. &Ouédraogo,S.Parklands for bufferingclimate risk and sustaining agricultural production in the Sahel of West Africa. Curr. Opin.Environ. Sustain. 6, 28–34 (2014).14. Fernandes, E. C. M., Oktingati, A. & Maghembe, J. The Chagga homegardens: a multistoriedagroforestry cropping system on Mt. Kilimanjaro (Northern Tanzania). Agroforest. Syst. 2,73–86 (1984).15. de Bont, C., Komakech, H. C. & Veldwisch, G. J. Neither modern nor traditional: Farmer-ledirrigation development in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania.World Dev. 116, 15–27 (2019).16. Wondimenh, S. The contribution of traditional agroforestry systemsand challenges of adoptionby smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. A review. East Afr. J. Forest. Agroforest. 6, 18–32 (2023).17. Etshekape, P. G., Atangana, A. R. & Khasa, D. P. Tree planting in urban and peri-urban ofKinshasa: survey of factors facilitating agroforestry adoption. Urban Urban Green 30,12–23 (2018).18. Radwan, T. M., Blackburn, G. A., Whyatt, J. D. & Atkinson, P. M. Dramatic loss of agriculturalland due to urban expansion threatens food security in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Remote Sens(Basel) 11, 332 (2019).19. Bakr, N. &Bahnassy,M.H. EgyptianNatural Resources. in 33–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95516-2_3. (2019).20. Holden, S. T. Policies for Improved Food Security: The Roles of Land Tenure Policies and LandMarkets. in The Role of Smallholder Farms in Food and Nutrition Security 153–169 (SpringerInternational Publishing). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42148-9_8 (2020).21. Goyal, A. & Nash, J. Agricultural Public Spending in Africa Is Low and Inefficient. in ReapingRicher Returns: Public Spending Priorities for African Agriculture Productivity Growth 59–123(The World Bank). https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0937-8_ch2 (2017).22. African Union Commission. 3rd Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development ProgrammeBiennial Review Report 2015–2021. https://bit.ly/3GN1msL (2022).23. Badiane, O. et al. Policy Options for Food System Transformation in Africa and the Role ofScience, Technology and Innovation. in Science and Innovations for Food SystemsTransformation 713–735 (Springer International Publishing). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15703-5_37 (2023).24. UNDP. Towards Food Security and Sovereignty in Africa. https://www.undp.org/facs/publications/towards-food-security-and-sovereignty-africa (2022).25. Kudama, G., Dangia, M., Wana, H. & Tadese, B. Will digital solution transform Sub-SaharaAfrican agriculture? Artif. Intell. Agric. 5, 292–300 (2021).26. Ehui, S. How can digital technology help transform Africa’s food system?World Bank. https://bit.ly/3RLASOw (2018).27. Prasad, P. V. V. et al. Patterns of investment in agricultural research and innovation for theGlobal South,with a focuson sustainable agricultural intensification.Front Sustain FoodSyst7.https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1108949 (2023).28. Rosegrant, M. W., Sulser, T. B. & Wiebe, K. Global investment gap in agricultural research andinnovation to meet Sustainable Development Goals for hunger and Paris Agreement climatechange mitigation. Front. Sustain Food Syst. 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.965767(2022).29. Sseguya, H. et al. The impact of demonstration plots on improved agricultural input purchase inTanzania: Implications for policy and practice. PLoS ONE 16, e0243896 (2021).30. Njuki, J. et al. A review of evidence on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and foodsystems. Glob Food Sec 33, 100622 (2022).31. Bryan, E., Ringler, C. & Meinzen-Dick, R. Gender, Resilience, and Food Systems. in 239–280.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23535-1_8. (2023).32. UNESCO.UNESCOScienceReport: the raceagainst time for smarter development. (UNESCO).https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377433 (2021).33. Ogega, O. M. et al. Research capacity strengthening in Africa: perspectives from the Social Sciences,Humanities, and Arts. Sci. Afr. e01708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2023.e01708. (2023).34. Bergman Lodin, J. et al. Gendered mobilities and immobilities: Women’s and men’s capacitiesfor agricultural innovation in Kenya and Nigeria. Gender Place Culture 26, 1759–1783 (2019).AcknowledgementsThispaperhasbeenproducedwith the financial assistanceof theEuropeanUnion through theAfricanResearch Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE; Grant no. DCI-PANAF/2020/420-028). Thecontents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstancesberegardedas reflecting thepositionof theEuropeanUnionor the institutions towhich theauthorsareaffiliated. The authors appreciate the contributions made by ARISE Fellows including SarobidyRakotonarivo,CelimphiloMavuso,SoniaSemedo,KoffiKibalouPalanga,AlassanAssaniSeidou, andGeoffrey Onaga. All stakeholders of the ARISE programme, as well as the hosts (including Ouranos,Canada) and participants of the 2023 Adaptation Futures Conference, are acknowledged andappreciated for their contribution to this article.Author contributionsO.O. conceptualized the study, O.O., D.O., and J.T. drafted the manuscript, L.K., P.O., D.O., and J.T.edited the draft manuscript and O.O. wrote the final manuscript.Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests.Additional informationCorrespondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Obed M. Ogega.Reprints and permissions information is available athttp://www.nature.com/reprintsPublisher’snoteSpringerNature remainsneutralwith regard to jurisdictional claims inpublishedmapsand institutional affiliations.Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalLicense, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium orformat, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a linkto the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other thirdpartymaterial in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicatedotherwise in a credit line to thematerial. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commonslicence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use,you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence,visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.© The Author(s) 2024communications earth & environment CommentCommunications Earth & Environment |            (2024) 5:82 3

How to transform Africa’s food system

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How to transform Africa’s food system

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