Skip to main content

Food Security & Agroecology

 

Achieving sustainable agri-food systems relies on generating new knowledge rooted in agro-ecological principles. This entails integrating scientific and local knowledge, strengthening African capacities, and advocating for evidence-based policies. While Regional Centres of Excellence offer a pathway to contribute to this transformative process, several challenges must be navigated:

  • Strengthening Evidence Production: Agroecology's potential contributions are recognized, but challenges remain in enhancing data collection and advocacy efforts to amplify impact.
  • Fostering Collaboration: Mobilizing diverse stakeholders, including universities, private sectors, and civil society actors, is crucial for producing innovative knowledge.
  • Building Competencies: Addressing complex ecological and social challenges requires developing new research agendas and tailored curricula. Networking between RCoEs and forging partnerships offer avenues to build these competencies.
  • Accessing Financial Resources: African research organizations face hurdles in accessing necessary financial resources to enhance infrastructure and capabilities.

Regional Centres of Excellence

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) will coordinate the efforts of selected RCoEs in the agri-food domain to address its challenges.

Available Resources
Displaying 16 - 30 of 48
Soil Map
In most people's mind, soil would not figure highly in a list of the natural resources of Africa. However, healthy and fertile soils are the cornerstones of food security, key environmental services, ...
Select for mapping Read more
Land Degradation
Humans need increasingly more biomass for food, fodder, fiber and energy. In Africa, circa 22% of the vegetated land surface showed a decline or unstable land productivity between 1999 and 2013. Persi...
Select for mapping Read more
Cropland extent
By detecting areas where agricultural production deficits might occur, it is possible to prevent food security crises and anticipate response planning. To do this, we need accurate and reliable inform...
Select for mapping Read more
Frequency of ten-daily warnings about rangeland anomalies
Food crisis response planning can save lives if put in place in a timely manner. To do this, decision makers must be warned of climate extreme events impacting agricultural production. The Anomaly hot...
Select for mapping Read more
Frequency of ten-daily warnings about crop anomalies
Food crisis response planning can save lives if put in place in a timely manner. To do this, decision makers must be warned of climate extreme events impacting agricultural production. The Anomaly hot...
Select for mapping Read more
Rangeland
By detecting areas where agricultural production deficits might occur, it is possible to prevent food security crises and anticipate response planning. To do this, we need accurate and reliable inform...
Select for mapping Read more
Frequency of hotspots of agricultural production anomaly
Food crisis response planning can save lives if put in place in a timely manner. To do this, decision makers must be warned of climate extreme events impacting agricultural production. The Anomaly hot...
Select for mapping Read more
Average annual precipitation (1981-2017)
Increasing water scarcity and water quality issues are serious constraints, especially for Northern Africa. A comprehensive assessment of spatial and temporal precipitation frequency is the initial st...
Select for mapping Read more
Heatwaves (1981-2018)
Africa is considered one of the most vulnerable regions to weather and climate variability. Extreme events such as heat waves have important impacts on public health, water supplies, food security, an...
Select for mapping Read more
INFORM Risk Index: Food security
Understanding why and where humanitarian disasters are likely to occur is a fundamental step in saving lives and promoting sustainable development. The main focus of humanitarian organizations is peop...
Select for mapping Read more
Cocoa map for Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana are the main largest producers of cocoa in the world. However, the cultivation of this crop has led to the loss of vast tracts of forest areas in both countries. Efficient and ...
Select for mapping Read more
Oil Palm Plantations
Oil seed crops, especially oil palm, are among the most rapidly expanding agricultural land uses, and their expansion is known to cause significant environmental damage. Accordingly, these crops often...
Select for mapping Read more
Decreasing land productivity (areas of concern)
Humans need increasingly more biomass for food, fodder, fibre and energy. Meeting these demands changes global ecosystems. Tracking changes in total biomass production or land productivity is an essen...
Select for mapping Read more
Low-input agriculture (areas of concern)
Smallholder farmers have limited access to capital and are reluctant to trade their low-risk system (low input and low yield) to a high-risk system (high input and potentially higher yields). But Insu...
Select for mapping Read more
High-input agriculture (areas of concern)
The application of fertiliser is a key component in increasing agricultural production. However, there are thresholds beyond which the cost of inputs fails to lead to corresponding increases in yield....
Select for mapping Read more