Food Security in Africa:Innovative Solutions to a Growing Crisis

Dennis Rangi, Executive Director – International Development, CABI

About CABI

• Science based organisation established in 1910

• Not-for-profit status

• Owned by nearly 50 member countries

• Global reach, with staff based in 16 countries

worldwide

• CABI Africa based in Nairobi with project offices

in Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia and Angola

Defining Food Security

“Food security exists when all

people at all times have access to

sufficient, safe and nutritious food

to meet their dietary needs and

food preferences for an active and

healthy life”

FAO

KNOWLEDGE FOR LIFE

● Agriculture supports livelihoods of 80%

of Africa’s 900m people but:

o Agricultural GDP per farmer rose by

less than 1% in Africa over last 20yrs

o Production increases have been

mostly through increased land not

increased productivity

o Crop losses of 20-40% due to pests,

diseases and weeds

o Estimated that Africa will feed less

than 50% of population by 2015

Food Security Under Threat

The Challenge

● Problems shift – distribution of pests,

diseases and weeds are changing

● Pace of change increases as a result

of key drivers e.g.

o Population increase

o Climate change

o 4Ts – trade, tourism, transport,

travel

● So that today’s solutions may not be

the answers to tomorrows problems

● Need to respond continuously and

rapidly

The Opportunity

Knowledge exists:

● But is not available where and when it

is needed

● Cannot be used because necessary

service providers are not in place

● Lack of capacity to use knowledge

We can meet the challenge by changing the way people work together

● Generate knowledge that is adapted to local contexts

● Innovative solutions to access and use knowledge are

needed as much as new knowledge

● Approaches must support use of new knowledge

i.e. we need to invest in agriculture and innovative

solutions - if we can lose less of what we produce

then we can improve productivity.

CABI’s Approach and Expertise in Improving Food Security

Make more food

available

Produce more Buy more

Earn moreUse reserves

Or savingsGrow More Lose Less

New land

New varieties

Better agronomy

Competition from

weeds

Pests and diseases

Transit and

storage losses

Produce more

Move to higher

value crops

Higher value

markets

CABI’s expertise

Some Innovative Solutions from CABI

1. Building capacity by changing the way

that different stakeholders work together

• Building capacity to use new crop

varieties

• Build capacity to use new knowledge

2. Innovative solutions to address new

problems

• New linkages, new approaches, new

ways of sharing knowledge to allow it

to move more freely

Building capacity to use new crop varieties

Farmers working with public and private sector to facilitate

access to locally adapted seed varieties

● work with regulatory systems to identify criteria for

smallholder crops such as kale

● train farmers to produce commercial seed

● link farmers and private sector seed companies to

produce and distribute seed

● support improved communication: about available new

varieties

Farmers working together more effectively to:

● understand client requirements

● produce tomatoes using GAP and IPM to respond to

demand for healthy produce and sustainable

management

● organize themselves to provide regular delivery over

longer periods

Building capacity to use new crop varieties

Building capacity to use knowledge to improve coffee quality

● Smallholder coffee growers can improve quality using

novel approaches to processing (raised drying beds,

handpulpers)

● Farmers will only use new knowledge if they can access

premiums

● Farmers can only use new knowledge if credit is available

to allow them to invest (drying beds, hand-pulpers)

Community-Based Armyworm Forecasting

Improving local capacity to deal with

a major pest

● Communities use new technology

to predict pest outbreaks locally

● Links with pesticide suppliers and

other public sector actors are

essential to success.

● New ways of working empower

communities to manage problems

SPS Capacity Building

● Establishing a Centre of

Phytosanitary Excellence (COPE)

● Making the best use of existing

skills in a sub-region by finding

ways of stakeholders supporting

each other

PlantWise – an Innovative solution to address new problems

A global alliance that seeks to integrate:1. plant clinics for field advisory services / pest

early warning

2. a global knowledge bank

Plant Clinics Plant Health Database

Plant Health Systems

Community based plant clinics

Any crop

Any problem (biotic/abiotic)

Plant doctors supported by

networks of stakeholders:

Technical experts

Input suppliers

Diagnostic services

Vigilance for

emerging problems

Clinic records provide

snapshot of key problems

concerning farmers

Emerging problems can be

detected

Link with NPPO who can

respond to new problems

Link with expertise to access

new knowledge

Linking knowledge sources (knowledge bank)

Build a centralised plant health

resource to facilitate easy

access to global sources of

informationCombine knowledge sources

including field observations from

clinics and global data

integrated for dynamic pest

distribution mapsDeliver knowledge to variety of

users including plant health

systems stakeholders

● To meet needs of 9 billion people in 2050 we need to

work differently

● Yesterdays thinking will not solve tomorrows problems

under rapid pace of change (climate change, trade etc.)

● Lose less to feed more

● Innovative solutions:

● New ways to use knowledge

● Organising ourselves differently

● Linking communities to stakeholders that can serve

them

● Empowering communities to be part of the solution

Concluding remarks

Asante

Lose less, feed more