IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v5y2012i1p52-71d22483.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Climate and Food Production: Understanding Vulnerability from Past Trends in Africa’s Sudan-Sahel

Author

Listed:
  • Genesis T. Yengoh

    (Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Sciences, GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden)

Abstract

Just how influential is rainfall on agricultural production in the Sudan-Sahel of Africa? And, is there evidence that support for small-scale farming can reduce the vulnerability of crop yields to rainfall in these sensitive agro-ecological zones? These questions are explored based on a case study from Cameroon’s Sudan-Sahel region. Climate data for 20 years and crop production data for six major food crops for the same years are used to find patterns of correlation over this time period. Results show a distinction of three periods of climatic influence of agriculture: one period before 1989, another between 1990 and 1999 and the last from 2000 to 2004. The analysis reveals that, while important in setting the enabling biophysical environment for food crop cultivation, the influence of rainfall in agriculture can be diluted by proactive policies that support food production. Proactive policies also reduce the impact of agriculturally relevant climatic shocks, such as droughts on food crop yields over the time-series. These findings emphasize the extent of vulnerability of food crop production to rainfall variations among small-holder farmers in these agro-ecological zones and reinforce the call for the proactive engagement of relevant institutions and support services in assisting the efforts of small-scale food producers in Africa’s Sudan-Sahel. The implications of climate variability on agriculture are discussed within the context of food security with particular reference to Africa’s Sudan-Sahel.

Suggested Citation

  • Genesis T. Yengoh, 2012. "Climate and Food Production: Understanding Vulnerability from Past Trends in Africa’s Sudan-Sahel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2012:i:1:p:52-71:d:22483
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/1/52/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/1/52/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rockstr m, J. & Barron, J. & Fox, P., 2003. "Water productivity in rain-fed agriculture: challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in drought-prone tropical agroecosystems," IWMI Books, Reports H032640, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Pedro Sanchez & Glenn Denning & Generose Nziguheba, 2009. "The African Green Revolution moves forward," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 1(1), pages 37-44, February.
    3. von Braun, Joachim, 1991. "A policy agenda for famine prevention in Africa," Food policy reports 1, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Oecd, 2009. "Climate Change and Africa," OECD Journal: General Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 2009(1), pages 5-35.
    5. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801, January.
    6. Molua, Ernest L. & Lambi, Cornelius M., 2007. "The economic impact of climate change on agriculture in Cameroon," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4364, The World Bank.
    7. Abu-Awwad, A. M., 1998. "Irrigation management in arid areas affected by surface crust," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 21-32, October.
    8. Morduch, Jonathan, 1999. "Between the State and the Market: Can Informal Insurance Patch the Safety Net?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 14(2), pages 187-207, August.
    9. Kijne, J. W. & Barker, R. & Molden. D., 2003. "Water productivity in agriculture: limits and opportunities for improvement," IWMI Books, Reports H032631, International Water Management Institute.
    10. Genesis Yengoh & Augustin Tchuinte & Frederick Armah & Justice Odoi, 2010. "Impact of prolonged rainy seasons on food crop production in Cameroon," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(8), pages 825-841, December.
    11. Jerry R. Skees & Barry J. Barnett, 2006. "Enhancing microfinance using index-based risk-transfer products," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 66(2), pages 235-250, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Felix Watang Zieba & Genesis Tambang Yengoh & Abdouraman Tom, 2017. "Seasonal Migration and Settlement around Lake Chad: Strategies for Control of Resources in an Increasingly Drying Lake," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-17, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Melissa Dell & Benjamin F. Jones & Benjamin A. Olken, 2014. "What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 740-798, September.
    2. Grum, Berhane & Hessel, Rudi & Kessler, Aad & Woldearegay, Kifle & Yazew, Eyasu & Ritsema, Coen & Geissen, Violette, 2016. "A decision support approach for the selection and implementation of water harvesting techniques in arid and semi-arid regions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 35-47.
    3. Bryan, Elizabeth & Behrman, Julia A., 2013. "Community–based adaptation to climate change: A theoretical framework, overview of key issues and discussion of gender differentiated priorities and participation," CAPRi working papers 109, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Moser, Rafael Magnus Barbosa & Gonzalez, Lauro, 2016. "Green microfiance: a new frontier to inclusive financial service," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 56(2), March.
    5. Amrita Chatterjee & Arpita Ghose, 2016. "A dynamic economic model of soil conservation and drought tolerance involving genetically modified crops," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 18(1), pages 40-66, October.
    6. Byela Tibesigwa & Martine Visser & Jane Turpie, 2017. "Climate change and South Africa’s commercial farms: an assessment of impacts on specialised horticulture, crop, livestock and mixed farming systems," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 607-636, April.
    7. Mohamed Mehana & Mohamed Abdelrahman & Yasmin Emadeldin & Jai S. Rohila & Raghupathy Karthikeyan, 2021. "Impact of Genetic Improvements of Rice on Its Water Use and Effects of Climate Variability in Egypt," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Somlanare Romuald KINDA & Félix BADOLO, 2014. "Climatic Variability and Food Security in Developing Countries," Working Papers 201405, CERDI.
    9. Verónica Borbolla-Pérez & Lourdes Georgina Iglesias-Andreu & Mauricio Luna-Rodríguez & Pablo Octavio-Aguilar, 2017. "Perceptions regarding the challenges and constraints faced by smallholder farmers of vanilla in Mexico," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 2421-2441, December.
    10. Eugenio Figueroa & Ramón E. López & Gino Sturla, 2019. "Efficient Water Allocation when Climate is Changing: An interdisciplinary approach," Working Papers wp489, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    11. Mattoo, Aaditya & Subramanian, Arvind, 2012. "Equity in Climate Change: An Analytical Review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1083-1097.
    12. Atapattu, Sithara & Molden, David, 2006. "Achieving food and environmental security: better river basin management for healthy coastal zones," IWMI Books, Reports H039123, International Water Management Institute.
    13. Homann-Kee Tui, Sabine & Valbuena, Diego & Masikati, Patricia & Descheemaeker, Katrien & Nyamangara, Justice & Claessens, Lieven & Erenstein, Olaf & van Rooyen, Andre & Nkomboni, Daniel, 2015. "Economic trade-offs of biomass use in crop-livestock systems: Exploring more sustainable options in semi-arid Zimbabwe," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 48-60.
    14. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-011 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Muli, Celestine & Gerber, Nicolas & Sakketa, Tekalign Gutu & Mirzabaev, Alisher, "undated". "Ecosystem tipping points due to variable water availability and cascading effects on food security in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Working Papers 278230, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    16. Ian Rowlands, 2011. "Ancillary impacts of energy-related climate change mitigation options in Africa’s least developed countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 16(7), pages 749-773, October.
    17. Moses A. Ojara & Yunsheng Lou & Lawrence Aribo & Silvia Namumbya & Md. Jalal Uddin, 2020. "Dry spells and probability of rainfall occurrence for Lake Kyoga Basin in Uganda, East Africa," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 100(2), pages 493-514, January.
    18. Dittrich, Ruth & Wreford, Anita & Moran, Dominic, 2016. "A survey of decision-making approaches for climate change adaptation: Are robust methods the way forward?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 79-89.
    19. Christian L. E. Franzke, 2017. "Impacts of a Changing Climate on Economic Damages and Insurance," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 95-110, June.
    20. Danielle Resnick & Finn Tarp & James Thurlow, 2012. "The Political Economy of Green Growth: Illustrations from Southern Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-011, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    21. Nicole D. Peterson, 2012. "Developing Climate Adaptation: The Intersection of Climate Research and Development Programmes in Index Insurance," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(2), pages 557-584, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2012:i:1:p:52-71:d:22483. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.