COVID-19 lowered food production, quality and access in South Africa, study finds

By Mantoe Phakathi for GCRF-AFRICAP Mavis Motlokoa, a farmer from Harrismith in the Free State Province, South Africa, is still trying to recover from the loss she made during the COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the government in March last year. From the 463-hectare farm she runs with her husband, Phori, she sells eggs and chickens …

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Soil health is food wealth

As the climate warms, extreme weather of droughts, floods and high temperatures are affecting agriculture, threatening food security in Africa. Smallholder farmers are barely able to put food on the table as they work on exhausted soils that only produce poor crop yields, if anything. Erratic and excessive rainfall patterns have also contributed to reduced …

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Breeding for food and nutrition resilience

By Mantoe Phakathi for GCRF-AFRICAP Crop breeders should make use of climate information to develop seed varieties that will adapt to future environmental conditions in Southern Africa, researchers urge. Research projections show that, three decades from now, the Southern Africa region will be warmer than before and farmers will not be able to get any …

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Implementing climate-smart agriculture: Webinar recap, recording and slides

The international development and research communities are keenly focused on achieving and upscaling climate-smart agriculture (CSA), with a significant emphasis on delivering benefits to Africa’s smallholder farmers. Whilst there is a high level of knowledge around what CSA technologies and practices work on the ground, there is still poor understanding of how smallholder farmers can …

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