Drivers of household food availability in sub-Saharan Africa based on big data from small farms

We calculated a simple indicator of food availability using data from 93 sites in 17 countries across contrasted agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa (13000+ farm households) and analysed the drivers of variations in food availability. Crop production was the major source of energy, contributing 60%...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Frelat, R., Lopez-Ridaura, S., Giller, K.E., Herrero, M., Douxchamps, S., Andersson Djurfeldt, A., Erenstein, O., Henderson, B., Kassie, M., Paul, B.K., Rigolot, C., Ritzema, R.S., Rodriguez, D., Van Asten, P., Wijk, M. van
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:México
Institución:Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo
Repositorio:Repositorio Institucional de Publicaciones Multimedia del CIMMYT
OAI Identifier:oai:repository.cimmyt.org:10883/21461
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10883/21461
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
Smallholder Farmers
Resource Scarcity
FOOD SECURITY
SMALLHOLDERS
YIELD GAP
FARM SIZE
Descripción
Sumario:We calculated a simple indicator of food availability using data from 93 sites in 17 countries across contrasted agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa (13000+ farm households) and analysed the drivers of variations in food availability. Crop production was the major source of energy, contributing 60% of food availability. The off-farm income contribution to food availability ranged from 12% for households without enough food available (18% of the total sample) to 27% for the 58% of households with sufficient food available. Using only three explanatory variables (household size, number of livestock and land area) we were able to predict correctly the agricultural determined status of food availability for 72% of the households, but the relationships were strongly influenced by the degree of market access. Our analyses suggest that targeting poverty through improving market access and offfarm opportunities is a better strategy to increase food security than focusing on agricultural production and closing yield gaps. This calls for multi-sectoral policy harmonisation and incentives and diversification of employment sources rather than a singular focus on agricultural development. Recognising and understanding diversity among smallholder farm households in sub-Saharan Africa is key for the design of policies that aim to improve food security.

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