Land Use and Climate Change Effects on Food Security in Africa

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 13244

Special Issue Editor

1. Department of Agronomie, Institut Polytechnic UniLaSalle, Rouen, France
2. Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Interests: land use; climate; precipitation; temperature; food security; crop systems, deforestation; urbanization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Food security, climate, and land use change are interconnected. This Special Issue intends to explore this connection. In Africa, food security is often impacted by systems of land use and climate change variations. Elements of climate change such as precipitation, temperature, and greenhouse gases have been known to historically have adverse effects on food systems. While the climate–food-security nexus has dominated scholarship for a long time, the possible repercussions of land use change have been ignored. Elements of land use change such as agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization are increasingly being used to account for our current food security charts. In fact, there is a current surge in the need to assert whether the state of food security in Africa is driven by mainly climate-related variables, variables related to land use change, or both. This way of looking at things is greatly shifting the food security debate in Africa. A look at large-scale Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices across Africa from the 1970s transitioning through the 1980s into the 1990s and beyond shows that the Sahel for example is getting greener amidst declining crop yields. This new evidence is associated with increasing rainfall across the Sahel and maybe gains in reforestation. If precipitation is increasing and food security is still a major issue, then it will be lopsided to subscribe entirely to the climate school of thought in which climate is the main driver of food systems. This has shifted the food security debate in Africa, and it is now strategic to have studies that handle variables related to both land use and climate change. As such, this Special Issue seeks to address the climate and land use change dilemma for crop systems across Africa. Papers will be accepted addressing scales ranging from regional and national to catchment area. From this Special Issue, we hopefully will be able to fill the major research gap on land use and climate change effects on food security in Africa.

Dr. Terence Epule Epule
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • land use
  • climate
  • precipitation
  • temperature
  • food security
  • crop systems
  • deforestation
  • urbanization

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2757 KiB  
Article
Can Famine Be Averted? A Spatiotemporal Assessment of The Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in The Luvuvhu River Catchment of South Africa
by Geoffrey Mukwada, Sabelo M. Mazibuko, Mokhele Moeletsi and Guy M. Robinson
Land 2021, 10(5), 527; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10050527 - 14 May 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2773
Abstract
Climate change has proved to be a threat to food security the world over. Using temperature and precipitation data, this paper examines the differential effects climate change has on different land uses in the Luvuvhu river catchment in South Africa. The paper uses [...] Read more.
Climate change has proved to be a threat to food security the world over. Using temperature and precipitation data, this paper examines the differential effects climate change has on different land uses in the Luvuvhu river catchment in South Africa. The paper uses the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), which were calculated from Landsat images, and the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) for a sample of years between 1980 and 2016 to assess how drought and flood frequency have affected the agricultural environment. The results indicate that the lowest SPI values were recorded in 1996/1997, 2001/2002 and 2014/2015, suggesting the occurrence of drought during these years, while the highest SPI values were recorded in 1997/1998, 2002/2003 and 2004/2005. The relationship between three-month SPI (SPI_3) and VCI was strongest in grassland, and subsistence farming areas with the correlation coefficients of 0.8166 (p = 0.0022) and −0.6172 (p = 0.0431), respectively, indicating that rainfall variability had a high negative impact on vegetation health in those land uses with shallow-rooted plants. The findings of this study are relevant to disaster management planning in South Africa, as well as development of farming response strategies for coping with climate hazards in the country. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use and Climate Change Effects on Food Security in Africa)
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16 pages, 616 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Sustainable Land Management Practices on Household Welfare and Determinants among Smallholder Maize Farmers in South Africa
by Oluwaseun Samuel Oduniyi and Sibongile Sylvia Tekana
Land 2021, 10(5), 508; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10050508 - 10 May 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2946
Abstract
This study investigated the impact of Sustainable Land Management Practices (SLMP) on the smallholder maize farmer’s welfare in the Gert Sibande District in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Farmers’ welfare is paramount to agricultural development and rural vitalisation, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. [...] Read more.
This study investigated the impact of Sustainable Land Management Practices (SLMP) on the smallholder maize farmer’s welfare in the Gert Sibande District in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. Farmers’ welfare is paramount to agricultural development and rural vitalisation, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of the study is to identify the factors that influence the adoption of SLMP and to assess its impact on the net farm income. A multivariate-probit (MVP) model was used to analyse the determinants of SLMP adopted and an efficient endogenous switching regression model (ESRM) was used to estimate the impact of SLMP on the net farm income of the smallholder maize farmers. The MVP results show that household socio-economic characteristics and institutional factors statistically influenced the choice of SLMP. Subsequently, the pair-wise correlation matrix of the MVP model revealed complementarities among all SLMP implemented by the farmers. Similarly, the ESRM treatment effect indicated that the average net farm income of farmers who adopted SLMP were significantly higher than that of the group who did not. Consequently, the study recommended support policies on farmers’ demography, farm-based characteristics, and institutional factors to improve the welfare of the farmers and promote rural vitalisation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use and Climate Change Effects on Food Security in Africa)
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25 pages, 4920 KiB  
Article
Assessing Land Use and Land Cover Change and Farmers’ Perceptions of Deforestation and Land Degradation in South-West Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa
by Jean-Luc Kouassi, Amos Gyau, Lucien Diby, Yeboi Bene and Christophe Kouamé
Land 2021, 10(4), 429; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/land10040429 - 16 Apr 2021
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 6652
Abstract
Deforestation and land degradation remain two major economic and environmental threats in Côte d’Ivoire. This study assessed land use and land cover (LULC) change and farmers’ perceptions of the drivers and effects of deforestation and land degradation in south-western Côte d’Ivoire. We used [...] Read more.
Deforestation and land degradation remain two major economic and environmental threats in Côte d’Ivoire. This study assessed land use and land cover (LULC) change and farmers’ perceptions of the drivers and effects of deforestation and land degradation in south-western Côte d’Ivoire. We used remotely sensed data to determine LULC change trends, and a household survey to collect farmers’ perceptions of deforestation and land degradation. A total of 411 households were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and the focus group discussions involved 25 farmers. Landsat image analysis reported a drastic LULC change and a conversion of forestlands into agriculture from 1987 to 2015 at a rate of 1.44%/year and 3.44%/year for dense forests and degraded forests, respectively. The household survey revealed that the major causes of deforestation perceived by farmers included population growth (79.3%), extensive agriculture (72.9%), migration (54.2%) and logging (47.7%). Land degradation evolved, from a shortened fallow period (46.7%) and an inappropriate application of inputs (31.4%). The perceived major effects linked to deforestation encompassed land degradation (70.6%), loss of biodiversity (63.8%), global warming (56.9%) and loss of livelihood assets (54.3%). Therefore, this study recommends participatory landscape planning, reforestation and capacity building of stakeholders for sustainable intensification of the production systems to reduce LULC challenges for enhanced productive and protective functions of remaining forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Land Use and Climate Change Effects on Food Security in Africa)
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