Africa’s Practical Realities for COP 27 and Beyond: The need for a nexus approach between Africa’s food systems, energy access and the continent’s fight against climate change
Agriculture is the backbone of Africa’s economy and holds tremendous potential as an engine for future growth and job creation in the continent.
The sector employs 65 to 70 per cent of Africa’s workforce and accounts for roughly a third of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP). Women make up more than half of Africa’s farmers and produce about 90 per cent of the continent’s food.
Africa has the lowest productivity per capita in the world because farmers, for the most part, lack access to key agricultural inputs and rely on hand tools for land preparation and harvesting. Investing in key inputs for smallholder farms, including access to energy, has significant potential to transform the sector’s productivity. Promoting agricultural production is widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to drive inclusive growth and reduce poverty.
With each passing day, the impact of climate change shifts from predictions to reality.
In the coming years, Africa will experience severe adverse direct effects from climate change due to its high dependence on rainfed agriculture and its limited capacity to adapt. Projections under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 suggest that warming scenarios will have devastating effects on crop production and food security. Already the number of undernourished people in the drought-prone African countries has increased by 45.6 per cent since 2012, according to the FAO. In 2022, the UN estimates that 120 million people across the continent face a food crisis.
Africa, therefore, needs a nexus approach to food systems, energy, and climate especially since increasingly, droughts, water scarcity, and extreme weather events are threatening the continent’s ability to feed itself. For example, Africa’s approach to improving efficiency in food systems and agricultural value chains can have double benefits in both climate adaptation and mitigation. In terms of mitigation, lack of energy for storage and postharvest processing infrastructure leads to high postharvest losses, estimated at 30 per cent for grains and 50 per cent for other more rapidly perishable products.
These post-harvest losses cost Africa US$4 billion per year.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, this wastage contributes to the global estimated 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent of Green House Gases released into the atmosphere per year.
Additionally, inefficient agricultural value chains and increased populations can lead to the expansion of agriculture into forests and wetlands, destroying forest covers, soil degradation, and reducing Africa’s carbon sequestration capacity.
Moreover, forest destruction emits further carbon into the atmosphere. Energy plays a key part in increasing the efficiency of the continent’s food systems.
The COVID-19 pandemic already sent shockwaves to global supply chains, raising the prices of basic goods and shipping costs substantially. The crisis of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is further endangering food systems in several African countries, in the short term due to shortages in commodities imports and in the medium term, potential shortages in agricultural inputs such as fertilizers. These shocks highlight the critical issue of why Africa needs to accelerate industrial development to produce key agricultural inputs and boost intra-African trade.
As we approach COP 27, the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) is advocating for an integrated and wholistic nexus approach to Africa’s food systems, energy access and climate adaptation. Specifically, we reiterate the following policy recommendations:
First, an integrated approach to energy access and agriculture value chains
Increasing productivity and efficiency in agriculture value chains will contribute to minimizing agriculture-related deforestation. Energy is a key enabler for improving yields, water efficiency, and post-harvest storage, as well as for developing aggregated processing technologies and trade-related capacities that support agriculture value chains. However, Africa’s agriculture sector accounts for just 2 per cent of total electricity consumption. Energy demand in agriculture comprises both irrigation and agro-processing. Currently, only 5 per cent of Africa’s farmland is irrigated; irrigation can boost crop yields by up to four times. One way to do so is to use renewable energy on smallholder farms to tap into groundwater available in shallow aquifers.
African farmers also need improved access to local and regional markets to bring their products to markets with minimal losses. This requires innovation in cooling systems and energy-efficient transportation since Africa has low road density and nearly half of the rural population must travel five hours or more to reach the nearest market. The private sector alone cannot offer the solution to resolve these issues. There needs to be an at-scale investment in enabling infrastructures such as rural roads, markets, and incentives for investing in agriculture-related energy infrastructure.
One policy approach is to prioritize the targeted deployment of mini-grids and off-grid capabilities through structured farming cooperatives. Doing so can make these technologies affordable and leverage economies of scale, thus ensuring attractive profit margins for the private sector to invest in rural electrification and improving agricultural value chains.
Second, building climate adaptation through investments in agriculture-enabling infrastructure to minimize loss
Climate-related changes in weather patterns, unreliable rainfall and the effects of drought threaten Africa’s agriculture. Moreover, some of the major food crops in Africa are “vulnerable to temperature increase, rainfall changes, and carbon dioxide increase.” These factors alone make the agriculture sector highly vulnerable to climate-related shocks.
A policy recommendation is that adaptation measures need research and development components to identify resilient crops and staples for African agriculture. It also requires investment in energy needed for scaling up irrigation coupled with localized climate monitoring systems and data to ensure resilience and food security.
In the lead-up to COP 27, we are going to continue exploring the various facets of this nexus and we ask that you join us!
Send your thoughts and comments on what you think is important for Africa to voice in the negotiations.
Let’s build the Africa We Want, let’s build the Africa the world needs!