Climate-resilient development: An approach to sustainable food production in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Climate change is profoundly affecting the activities in the agricultural sector in almost all regions of the world. To adapt to the prevailing climatic conditions has translated into a cascade of risks for agro-ecosystems and agricultural production, ultimately impacting food security and nutrition. Hence, the study examines the effect of climate change on food production in 32 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries between 2005 and 2019 using Fixed Effects (FE) and Two-Step System-Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation. Findings help better understand the link resulting from climate change to adverse impacts on food production, as empirical analyses indicate that an increase in climate change (CO2 emissions) will result in a significant reduction of food production in SSA. This implies that climate change seems to have significantly contributed to the challenges associated with food insecurity in the region. Via changes in average temperature and rainfall patterns, climate change could be exacerbating existing threats and issues related to food production in the SSA region. It is therefore suggested that to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on food production, policy makers should aim at encouraging and adopting good adaptation approach, primarily at the production stage of food supply.