Climate change worsening farming’s trade-related woes

At the same time, international trade policies and African infrastructural and institutional barriers have prevented the development of intra-regional trade.

The FAO paper was prepared for its high-level forum “How to Feed the World in 2050”, scheduled for Oct 12-13 at the organisation’s headquarters in Rome, Italy.

The paper points out that, although natural water supplies are abundant at the continental level, “this abundance is not evenly distributed and it is apparent that Africa has not been able to intensify its agricultural production through irrigation and improved water management” through water harvesting and storage.

To do away with these shortcomings, the FAO underlines that substantial investment is needed “in public goods that support agriculture, notably research and extension, irrigation and power supply, rural roads, storage facilities, education and health care”.

Meanwhile, French governmental agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have started cooperation projects with African farmers, putting emphasis on investment that reduces the agriculture and international trade carbon footprint.

In other words, agriculture must be sustainable.

Carbon footprint is the total set of GHE caused directly and indirectly by an individual, event, organisation or product, expressed as emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).

“First thing, we have to change the patterns of food consumption and production to reconcile agriculture and mitigation of climate change,” Michel Griffon, expert for agriculture at the French National Research Agency, told IPS.

In terms of global GHE, agriculture is believed to be responsible for 25 per cent of CO2, 65 per cent of methane and 90 per cent of nitrous oxide emitted.

Modern farm processes, such as use of machinery over human and animal power, global trading and increased use of fertilisers and other so-called “agro-chemicals”, have already made agriculture an energy intensive process in the developed world and is still in the process of doing the same thing in the developing world.

Griffon recalled that while the production of one kilogramme of wheat consumes 1,100 litres, the production of one kilogramme of beef consumes 13 times that amount.

“If all inhabitants of the world would consume 30 kilogrammes of beef per year and per capita, we would have to multiply African agricultural production by five,” Griffon added.

In addition, the production of beef has a much higher carbon footprint than wheat and other cereals.

As part of a research project launched by, among others, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and the Centre for International Cooperation on Agriculture, African farmers have started to apply different agricultural techniques that reduce agriculture’s environmental pollution and carbon footprint.

Soil depletion