Africa is critically threatened by food insecurity,land degradation, desertification ,deforestation and climate change.
indeed to survived all these threat ,Small farms holders in africa need science based solutions to increase the efficiency of their crop production systems: Solutions that build upon the best of local knowledge and practice, and that are truly accessible and affordable
So many small scale farmers in Africa are now adapting many technic in the farmland ,which is aimed at tackling the increasing daily challenges of climate change and desertification facing the entire region.
Climate change comes with never-before-experienced impacts. For example, crop yields and growing seasons will decrease even as changing rain patterns will worsen people’s access to water. Yet Africa’s population is projected to reach 2 billion in less than 37 years, and in 86 years three out of every four people added to the planet will be African
Mallam musa mohammed is a local farmer in kaduna state ,North-western Nigeria who explained to some journalist that visited him in his farm –land that,for the past 30 year,he has been using the farm,but recently he discovered that what ever he planted in the farmland,he doesn’t make much money like before,and according to him,this is as a result of the environmental changes which affect the agricultural land for crops production.
Musa said ,One important aspect of climate change is drought. As the temperature of the earth continues to rise, some areas will see more rainfall, but others will see considerably less, causing drought conditions. It has been estimated that, by the end of the 21st century, the areas in the world affected by drought will have doubled compared to today.
There is no doubt , that Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. Farmers in particular may be impacted by its effects, which include drought, extreme heat, severe weather events, shifting climatic trends, flooding, and compromised harvests.
Since climate change could also increase plant disease infestation, biotechnology enables development of disease diagnostic kits for use in the laboratory and field that could be used to detect plant diseases early, by testing for the presence of pathogen’s DNA or proteins produced by pathogens or plants during infection.
Even as new pest and diseases emerge due to climate change, farmers are still able to mitigate this with insect-resistant crops. Theses crops require fewer insecticide treatments, resulting in a reduction in fuel use and lower CO2 emissions
Mr Samson john is another local farmer in northern Nigeria,he explained why African farmers are now adopting new technics in their farmland, in tackling climate change through planting crops that are resistance to their farm land ,which can also survived and live in an environment that has problems with vegetation
Every year, nations come together to work out solutions to mitigating/adapting to the devastating effects of our changing climate. Biotechnology has an important role to play in this debate.
Mr Samson added that “Plants are constantly being exposed to many kinds of environmental challenges, one of the main ones of course being drought, A lack of water can seriously affect a plants growth and development, a particularly important consideration for food crops as it is likely to have a detrimental effect on crop quality and eventual yield”.
Crops are now bred to be herbicide tolerant, which means that farmers have the opportunity to reduce the level and efforts in ploughing. Thus a resultant reduction in tractor use also helps to protect the structure of the soil which reduces erosion.
For us African climate reporter ,we feels that there is need to redouble effort in educating the entire people of Africa, and it is our responsibilities to also find other means apart from reporting in sensitizing the public on the importance of introducing Climate change education in both primary, secondary and tertiary institutes across the African nation
