Ensuring food security on the African continent while preserving its forests and natural environments is a major challenge, experts say. The sharp increase in cultivated areas observed in recent years meets growing food needs, but is not good news for the environment and the climate.
This agricultural expansion, linked to population growth, has accelerated since the beginning of the 21st century, encroaching on forests and savannahs and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
“In twenty years, Africa has extended its cultivated areas by more than a third, thus accounting for 52% of the increase observed on a global scale”according to a study published in the journal nature food (link in English) which is based on satellite data from the Landsat program. “The rise has been particularly rapid in a small group of countries (Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Zambia)”, explains a study by Jean Christophe Debar of the Farm Foundation. Côte d’Ivoire, for example, has lost 90% of its forest in 60 years.
“The increase in cultivated areas is even greater if we include orchards and shrubby plants such as cocoa, coffee and oil palm, which poses a formidable challenge for the preservation of ecosystems and the fight against climate change”, continues the researcher.
Cultivated areas in Africa increase each year by 3.9 million hectares against 1.5 million hectares per year in South America. An increase that is mainly at the expense of forests and natural vegetation.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that around 120 million hectares will be needed for new arable land by 2050 on the continent. To this must be added the expansion of pastures linked to the increased demand for dairy products and meat.
These figures raise questions about the ability of African agriculture to produce more to feed a rapidly growing population, while limiting pressure on the climate and natural environments.
These data plead for an increase in yields and a “ecological intensification of African agriculture” in order to meet the joint challenges of climate change and the protection of biodiversity, while improving farmers’ incomes.
To avoid an ecological disaster, it will be necessary to play on several levers recommend the experts: among others, the transformation of agricultural production systems, the modification of food habits as well as the reduction of losses and waste.
Because “Contrary to what intuition suggests, food systems in Africa globally emit much more greenhouse gases than in Europe and the United States, due in particular to the low productivity of agriculture and the significance of deforestation,” note the researchers of the Farm foundation.