How technology is combating climate change in African Agriculture
#CLIMATECHANGE #FOODSECURITY
Jan 5, 2018: In countries across the African continent, the impact of climate change on agriculture contributes to a 4% increase in urban populations every year. As the availability of fertile land shrinks, more people are forced to migrate to increasingly overcrowded cities. This ballooning population puts even more stress on urban areas that lack basic infrastructure. The result is higher mortality rates, social and political instability, and a lower quality of life. Because more resources must be poured into cities, support for farming is slashed even further and with less farming comes less food. This is not a hypothetical problem: at the current rate of urbanization, the entire African continent will be in crisis by 2050.
Finding sustainable methods in food and rural agriculture is the single most important issue to the future of Africa. Addressing unprecedented challenges means developing creative solutions, supporting talented and dedicated people on the ground, and equipping them with technologies to re-generate and maintain arable land. Together with local farmers, the agritech sector is developing tools that can make a real difference in the everyday lives of millions of people, turning a possible crisis into a potential opportunity.
Solutions, from the Soil to the Sky
Smallholder farms provide nearly 80% of sub-Saharan Africa’s food supply, and there are an estimated 33 million smallholder farms on the continent. Therefore, to enable agricultural production to continue and indeed flourish, we need to think of solutions that support small farms and integrate them into the global system. International institutions like the Gates Foundation have devoted billions of dollars to encourage small farming by listening to farmers’ needs, increasing farm productivity, fostering sustainable practices, and achieving a greater impact with their partners. After all, no one knows better what needs to be done than the very people trying to feed their families and communities on a daily basis.
Technology has a crucial role to play in support of these efforts. One solution lies in making digital technology available to small farmers across Africa. Gates himself cited projects like M-Pesa, which helps establish microfinance and informal insurance networks that help people cope with unexpected financial losses like crop failures. A digital financial connection that is as simple as sending a text message on a mobile phone could open up an untold amount of resources and services to smallholder farmers.
Other groups like the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) have assembled a database that catalogues soil conditions around the world, which farmers can use as a reference to decide which crops have the best chance for survival in their area. Companies like Precision Weather Solutions use technology to monitor weather conditions in real time, allowing farmers to plan ahead based on the most accurate meteorological data available. The more information small farmers have, the better they can plan for the coming season and the challenges ahead.
In the field, projects like NextgenCassava are working to ensure that staple crops survive in Africa. Although cassava is the main source of calories for 500 million people across the globe, very few people have done research on how to unlock its potential. Hydroponics Kenya has introduced cheap and sustainable farming methods all over East Africa that enable farmers to grow animal feed without using soil in seven days. Groups like these, which stress the importance of building a sustainable local supply chain, are crucial to making Africa not only food secure, but food independent as well.
Connecting the Global and the Local
Without the resources to acquire and implement them, these essential resources can’t get to actors on the ground. Meeting the challenges of climate change means creating an infrastructure that is efficient yet simple, and that integrates innovation while still remaining user friendly. That’s why organizations like Digital Green and Global Good are such important actors in the push for sustainability in Africa.
Digital Green is committed to providing smallholder farmers with the tools to lift themselves out of poverty by harnessing the power of technology as well as grassroots level partnerships. Beginning with programs in India, Digital Green has helped to create a technological infrastructure in Ethiopia using videos of farmers conducting training sessions in locals languages. This method has proven to be an effective tool in helping smallholder farmers adopt better methods, as they feel more engaged when speaking and listening to their peers. Importantly, 90% of the farmers working on the program are women, and their work with Digital Green has given them a sense of personal dignity along with material rewards.
Founded by Bill Gates and food scientist Nathan Myrvold, Global Good uses a ‘reverse innovation approach’ based on inventing affordable and accessible technologies to solve development crises. These inventions are then brought to market by commercial partners who use sustainable business models, ensuring that the inventions they use have a long term impact on the global system. In Africa, Global Good is working on an artificial insemination cold-chain system, which helps farmers cross-breed their herds for better productivity and disease resistance. They have also developed the Mazzi Can, a milk container that is inexpensive and easy to clean and as a result, improves both the quantity and the quality of milk that farmers bring to market.
These and many other projects are keeping local farming alive in Africa and show smallholder farmers that they can resist the effects of climate change and indeed thrive in the face of them. They are incredible examples of Ubuntu, a term often used by Nelson Mandela to describe the interconnectedness of people, and the importance of human kindness in all of our actions. ‘I am because you are’: a simple phrase, and one that means as much for climate change as it does for humanity. Climate change is a human problem and one with potentially devastating human consequences, many of which are already in danger of becoming a reality across Africa. But if we act collectively, and with all of the tools and technology at our disposal, each one of us becomes better as a result.
Source: Marco Gualtieri – Seeds&Chips – Founder & Chairman