Livelihood Crises in Africa – Adaptations to Uncertainty due to Climate and other Changes

1. Livelihood Crises in Africa – Adaptations to Uncertainty due to Climate and other Changes Sue Walker and Kees Stigter Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; and Agromet Vision, Bruchem, The Netherlands and Bondowoso, Indonesia. Belo Horizonte, Brazil, July 2010

2. Livelihoods • ‘making a living’, preferably in a resilient way • to provide, among many other things, enough food • about people & their use of available resources • about to cope with risks and uncertainties while utilising new emerging opportunities. • related to food security & food sovereignty [Collins Thesaurus of the English Language, 2002]

3. Food Sovereignty* • rights of people to define their own food and agriculture; • to protect and mainstream domestic agric production & trade in order to achieve sustainable development objectives; • to determine the extend to which they want to be self-reliant; • to restrict dumping of products in markets; • rights of farmers to produce food for their own communities and country, in their own way, and on their own land. As a critical condition to reach real food security. *Defined by La Via Campesina = international peasant movement [Pimbert, 2009;Leisa Editorial, 2009]

4. Thus the difference between the concepts of “food security” vs “food sovereignty” seems to lie in the availability of viable, sustainable choices within the local communities.Many indigenous, traditional foods are healthier, cheaper and locally available. They thus contribute to self-reliance and sustainability by being well adapted to local conditions, of high nutritional value, easy to grow and providing their own N via fixation.[Bakewell-Stone, 2009]

5. In Africa • Linked with household food security but survival is not simple. • Most vulnerable people (approx. 325 million) are living in drylands which cover about 43% of Africa’s land surface.

6. Food security is a function of • factors such as . . . . • population dynamics; • biophysical conditions (including climate change); • land ownership; • land use; • agricultural markets; • trade and investment policies; • political stability; • socialization.

7. Indicators for Food Security include: • availability of food, • access to food (according to level of subsistence agriculture and purchasing power), and • product utilisation including kind, quantity, quality and nutritional value of available foodstuff. [UNDP, 2009]

8. Indicators can be compared by using • a ‘Livelihood Vulnerability Index’ • considers exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of communities. or • a ‘Sustainable Livelihoods Framework’ • characterises contributions from human, natural, social, physical and financial capital. • covers debt & credit structures (including insurances) & necessary infrastructure. [Hahn, Riederer & Foster, 2009; Reid & Vogel, 2006]

9. Current Status • A number of assessments have been carried out in various African countries and are ongoing, using the World Food Programme Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis and Monitoring Systems.

10. Adaptation solutions must be distinguished, according to various agro-ecological zones, for the following main categories: • type of farmer (farming system); • natural resource management; • Markets and opportunities of economic activities; • institutional opportunities; • additional aspects.

11. I. Type of farmer (farmer differentiation) • income classes, • position/role in society, • relationship to land / land tenure, • land owner, • labourer, • share cropper, • subsistence farmer, • farmer & trader / processor, • creditor or in debt.

12. Examples of Effect of Farmer Differentiation • In Nigeria (Nupeland) farmers were divided according to land tenure, social mobility & class into following groups: • Farm laborers • Poor/middle class/rich peasants • Landlords • In other parts of West Africa it was found that despite different systems of lineages, economic processes were a driving force, such that wealth (whether for individuals or groups) and preservation of power structures strongly influenced the farming production process. As a means to protecting and enlarging the matrilineal connections. • In Tanzania, farmers were differentiated according to which farming system dominated their production, and thus ability to maintain a livelihood. Those with “liveya” (= cattle grazing on open grassland) had a buffer against external and internal impacts. [Kohnert, 1979; Gastellu, 1987;Maruo, 2002]

13. II. Natural Resources Management Opportunities • Alternative cropping, soil and water conservation and improved techniques. • Change land use patterns. • Diversify agricultural activities.

14. Examples for Natural Resources Management Opportunities 1 • GCM and GHG emission scenarios show that length of maize growing period can be used as an indicator. For marginal areas in Africa, livestock provides an alternative to cropping. Climate change impacts are severe where poverty rates are already high, so a shift to pastoral livelihood is expected, where possible combined with agroforestry. • In the Chagga farming system on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, livelihoods are intertwined with land-use. Population pressure and expansion of cultivated land put pressure on the slopes and seriously decreased and degraded common resources. Thus effecting livelihoods. • In the Angolan fisheries sector, livelihoods have been enhanced by local and national linkages. The co-operatives at a local level served as a good governance practice. These co-operatives were voluntary mutual self-help enterprises developed ‘bottom-up’ at local level. They provided potential for poverty alleviation and maintenance of viable livelihoods, as long as the unique institutional characteristics of the co-operatives are respected. [Jones & Thornton, 2009; Soini, 2005; du Preez, 2009]

15. Examples for Natural Resources Management Opportunities 2 • In upper east Ghana, it was shown that social capital (existence of strong cohesive, ethnic and gender homogenous groups) served as a firm basis on which to manage small water reservoirs to utilise the water for dry season farming in rural communities. Thus providing alternative natural resource opportunities and changing livelihoods. • Similarly, in northern Ghana, dry season farming can have a major impact on livelihoods when riverine pump irrigation is implemented from the Volta River. The impact is throughout the community, from better education of children, provision of health care and ability to purchase food. [van Kinderen, 2006; Agyere]

16. III. Markets and Economic Activity Opportunities Affected by • Diversifying agricultural activities; • Improved access to markets; • Farmer differentiation.

17. Examples of Markets and Economic Activity Opportunities • In West African villages, climate is only one of the many factors influencing the local adaptation strategies to environmental change. As the current livelihoods become increasingly climate dependent, they need to develop alternative strategies to maintain a sustainable farming system. Over the past decades the people have been engaging in a range of diversification activities in order to survive and overcome the effects of climate variability. The diversification include alternative crops and a broadening into horticultural tree crops . • The introduction of drought tolerant varieties can cause a shift in the markets as the different varieties may be sent to other markets or may extend the period for which produce is available on the market. • Ecotourism can be part of the diversification of the agricultural activities as there are a variety of opportunities that can be developed and exploited, including tours, accommodation, wildlife, ecosystem friendly living etc. [Nielsen & Reenberg, 2010]

18. IV. Institutional Opportunities • Alternative group arrangements; • Diversifying agricultural activities; • Improved access; • Risk mapping of availability of natural resources or of vulnerability to calamities.

19. Examples of Institutional Opportunities 1 • Angolan fisheries co-operatives were formed at a local level to manage the fish resources and maintain livelihoods. However, the unique characteristics of such institutions need to be respected and upheld. Co-ops are useful to formalize an informal sector and empower the participants and reduce uncertainty. • In semi-arid Tanzania, the availability of the natural resources on which the livelihood are dependent need to be identified by the communities. It helped to identify common interests and this facilitated (i) community management; (ii) control over the common pool resources as well as (iii) risk mapping requiring various data inputs and proportions of community considering them important. [du Preez, 2009; Quinn et al., 2003]

20. Examples of Institutional Opportunities 2 • In the western High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, traditional farming systems are complimentary to irrigated terraces and runoff agriculture. Much variation is found between communities, where some can maintain adequate lifestyle while others struggle for a livelihood. Diversification into tourism, woodlots, irrigation, animal shelters, poultry and improved dairy production and rotation systems on the grazing lands is among the solutions. All of these were better enabled by the establishment and improvement of existing farmer organizations and local self-help groups. • In Ghana, the traditional authorities work alongside the modern political system. As the Chiefs are close to the people, they are first to know about water pollution, bush fires, as well as other environmental degradation and conflicts. They therefore have legislative, executive, judicial and spiritual functions and help to maintain the substance of the rural communities. [Barrow & Hicham, 2000; Guri & Laate, 2009]

21. V. Additional Aspects • Interactions between environmental factors & natural, human & social capital are usually gender specific. • Financial and livelihood strategies of concern to both men and women.

22. Examples of Additional Aspects • In Kenya, mixed farming is widely practiced, however pests and diseases, poor yielding varieties, and unhealthy planting material often cause crises in food supply. Social organisations and women’s groups provided opportunity for dissemination of relevant information, and seed/planting material as well as development of ways to deal with crop surplus. So diversification by processing and packaging of products as a group effort generated cash flow and variety in the diet of their families and livestock. • Tropical forests cover 1/3 of the Kafa highland region of Ethiopia where a multiple tenure system exists for the utilisation of the forest resources. These include share-cropping and allocation of trees to sons when they come of age. However, the beekeeping and wood processing skills also need to be passed from one generation to the next to maintain sustainable livelihoods. The interactions between environmental factors & natural, human & social capital are usually gender specific. [Daniel, 2004; Zewdie, 2003]

23. 2 conclusions + 1 recommendation Variety of causes of crises in Africa – climate change, economic downswing, population dynamics, changing policies etc. Resilience is of most help. Range of adaptation options and opportunities, considering differentiations of farmers & gender issues, to address and maintain livelihoods, including natural resource management, farm activities diversification, added value processing and use of markets, within current institutional and social community arrangements. Agrometeorological services need to be developed and implemented as a matter of policy to assist extension to establish them and transfer these interventions from one area or country to other similar agro-ecological zones.