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This study examined the nexus between climate change and food security in Sub-Saharan African Region (SSA). With focus on 30 countries within the region, the study employed the dynamic panel data analysis using the one-step and two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) model. The time observed spanned from 2000 through 2019. The study found that increase in greenhouse gas emission would lead to an increase in prevalence of malnourishment rate, resulting in a decrease in food security in SSA. In addition, climate change and food price have a negative significant effect on food security, while income and food supply have a positive significant impact on food security in SSA. The findings also revealed that the decline in carbon emission is expected to boost agricultural supply and productivity, reduce the prevalence of malnourishment rate and promote food security. Thus, the study recommends that SSA region should be more deliberate about meeting its targets towards achieving zero net emission. Furthermore, the region should improve its domestic food production capacity by implementing policies that will support improvement in agricultural production in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change severely affects sub-Saharan African economies in several ways: increased temperatures, erratic rainfall variability patterns, and recurrent droughts and floods. Such adverse climate change effects may result in a greater incidence of crop pests, loss of soil moisture content, rapid soil nutrient depletion and substantial decreases in crop productivity and yields. These effects in combination with lack of access to improved, high-yielding crop varieties, limited agricultural extension services and poor access to irrigation infrastructure could further threaten access to food, limit export earnings and markedly lower net crop revenue. Several definitions, assessment approaches and methods for the concepts related to "vulnerability" and "adaptation" exist due to complex nature of climate impact and strategies used to deal with them. Based on the context of such studies, this paper reviews climate change risks, people's vulnerability to such risks as well as synthesize different approaches, methods and models used to assess vulnerability and adaptation in the area of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. As climate change effects are complex and site-specific, the understanding of several concepts, approaches and methods provides detailed information on farmers' vulnerability and adaptation process. Such information would be useful to inform adaptation interventions and agricultural policies that build farmers' resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poultry sector is large and expanding in the global South, playing a central role in providing increased protein to a rapidly growing base of consumers. The sector includes small backyard farms, small commercial operations, and very large, complex enterprises. Although there is substantial literature on climate adaptation by crop farmers and large livestock farmers, such information is limited for poultry. This study focuses on the effects of higher temperatures on commercial poultry farms in southwest Nigeria and their adaptation strategies. We use a rich set of in-depth interviews to describe how poultry farmers are adapting to higher temperatures and their reasons for adopting particular practices. In general, interviewees are aware that temperatures have increased over time and that heat stress reduces poultry productivity in terms of weight gain and laying capacity. They are knowledgeable and are not passively enduring the adverse effects of higher temperatures as they have adopted a range of adaptation practices. This study identified three main adaptation strategies: (i) keeping drinking water cool, (ii) keeping the building cool and increasing ventilation, and (iii) giving birds medicines and supplements that help them cope with increased heat. Small farms tend to adopt simple and low-cost practices, and large farms tend to adopt more sophisticated and expensive approaches, in line with the nature of their respective operations. The paper's findings can help address gaps in strategies aiming to help this critically important sector of the food system be robust to future environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much current work on climate adaptation options vis-à-vis water management in rural sub-Saharan Africa has tended to focus more on technological and infrastructural alternatives and less on institutional alternatives. Yet, vulnerability to climate variability and change in these contexts is a function not just of biophysical outcomes but also of institutional factors that can vary significantly at relatively finer scales. This paper seeks to contribute towards closing this gap by examining institutional options for sustainable water management in rural SSA in the context of climate change and variability. It explores challenges for transforming water-related institutions and puts forward institutional alternatives towards adapting to increasingly complex conditions created by climate change and variability. The paper suggests revisiting the Integrated Water Resources Management approach which has dominated water institutional debates and reforms in Africa over the recent past, towards actively adopting resilience and adaptive management lenses in crafting water institutional development initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate change is a global phenomenon, it has significantly stifled agricultural productivity in the Global South due to changes of key atmospheric elements including extreme temperatures and unpredictable rainfall over the last fifty years. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in sub-Saharan Africa where rainfed agriculture is the dominant livelihood strategy, climate change is increasingly undermining rural livelihoods. Despite several policy efforts to improve climate adaptation in this context, smallholders' lack of access to credit constitutes one of the crucial dimensions of climatic vulnerability. Using an ordered logistic regression model, this study analyzed data from a cross-sectional survey (n = 1,100) in the Upper West Region to examine the relationship between smallholder farmers' access to credit and their perceived climate change resilience. Findings show that households with access to credit from informal sources were more likely (OR = 1.73, p ≤ 0.05) to report good resilience compared to those without access. Households that received remittances were also more likely (OR = 3.26, p ≤ 0.001) to report good resilience compared to non-receiving households. Further, households that did not rear any livestock surprisingly emerged more likely (OR = 2.00, p ≤ 0.001) to report good resilience compared to those that reared livestock. On the contrary, households that had experienced any climatic events in the past 12 months before the study were less likely (OR = 0.29, p ≤ 0.01) to report good resilience compared to households that did not experience any events. These findings highlight the potential contribution of informal credit sources to improving rural agricultural productivity and climate change resilience. Informal credit sources may be capable of providing smallholder farmers with the needed access to more flexible financial credit options. The study provides policy recommendations on what might be useful to vulnerable groups, and others in similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfed farming systems that are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa are prone to climate change. Most studies have only estimated the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity at a regional or national level. This overlooks localized effects at the subnational level, especially within defined agro-ecological regions. Using 30 years (1981–2011) of crop yield and weather data in Zambia, we apply the Just and Pope framework to determine how rainfall and temperature affect yield and yield variability of beans and maize at the national and agro-ecological region levels. At the national level, we find significant negative effect of a rise in temperature on bean and maize yield, while rainfall increases have a positive effect on bean and maize yields. These results differ by agro-ecological region. Rainfall has a positive and significant effect on maize yield in the low rainfall regions I and II, but it has a negative effect on maize yield in the high-rainfall region III and no significant effect on bean yield. Temperature has varied effects by regions and crops. Predicted impacts using HadGEM-ES2 global circulation model show that major yield decreases (25% for maize and 34% for beans) by 2050 will be in region II and will be driven mainly by temperature increase offsetting the positive gains from rainfall increase. The model predominantly overpredicts bean yield and under predicts maize yields. These results call for agro-ecological region-specific adaptation strategies and inventive agricultural policy interventions which are more robust to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-Saharan Africa has been portrayed as the most vulnerable region to the impacts of global climate change because of its reliance on agriculture which is highly sensitive to weather and climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, and light and extreme events and low capacity for adaptation. This article reviews evidence on the scope and nature of the climate change challenge; and assesses the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the review, it is apparent that the climate in Africa is already exhibiting significant changes, evident by changes in average temperature, change in amount of rainfall and patterns and the prevalence of frequency and intensity of weather extremes. The review also revealed that although uncertainties exist with regards to the magnitude of impacts, climate will negatively affect agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, as result of current and expected climate change, the area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease. These impacts will affect all components of food security: food availability, food accessibility, food utilisation and food stability and hence increase the risk of hunger in the region. The review thus confirms the general consensus that Sub-Saharan Africa is the most vulnerable region to climate change. It suggests that, policymakers and development agencies should focus on formulating and implementing policies and programmes that promote farm level adaptation strategies currently being practiced by farmers across the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]