The Echoes from AEFJN No. 30 - July August 2016 are now available online. 1306 - 1305 West African Agriculture and Climate Change
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has released a book on food security and climate change in West Africa. The book analyses what the current food security risks are in the selected 11 West-African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) and it also explores what increased efforts are necessary for sustainable food security in the face of climate change.
Both incomes and populations are expected to grow in West Africa in the years to come; this will increase pressure on existing natural resources and food production. The effects of climate change make this challenge even greater. Some of these climate change effects include: rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns and increased extreme weather events.
In these conditions adaptation strategies need to be developed, especially for the poor, who suffer the most from the climate change effects. The study by IFPRI aims to present possible future scenario’s and models, which might serve sustainable agriculture, food security in the face of climate change.
The study is available online and it has 11 chapters on each West-African country and it includes recommendations for the policymakers.