Record Details

Rooting for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10341/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9003
10.1088/1748-9326/aa9003
 
Title Rooting for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa
 
Creator Guilpart, N
Grassini, P
van Wart, J
Yang, H
van Ittersum, M K
van Bussel, L G J
Wolf, J
Claessens, L
Leenaars, J G B
Cassman, K G
 
Subject Food Production
Food Security
African Agriculture
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
 
Description There is a persistent narrative about the potential of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to be a 'grain breadbasket' because of large gaps between current low yields and yield potential with good management, and vast land resources with adequate rainfall. However, rigorous evaluation of the extent to which soils can support high, stable yields has been limited by lack of data on rootable soil depth of sufficient quality and spatial resolution. Here we use location-specific climate data, a robust spatial upscaling approach, and crop simulation to assess sensitivity of rainfed maize yields to root-zone water holding capacity. We find that SSA could produce a modest maize surplus but only if rootable soil depths are comparable to that of other major breadbaskets, such as the US Corn Belt and South American Pampas, which is unlikely based on currently available information. Otherwise, producing surplus grain for export will depend on expansion of crop area with the challenge of directing this expansion to regions where soil depth and rainfall are supportive of high and consistent yields, and where negative impacts on biodiversity are minimal.
 
Publisher IOP Publishing
 
Date 2017-11
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10341/1/Guilpart_2017_Environ._Res._Lett._12_114036.pdf
Guilpart, N and Grassini, P and van Wart, J and Yang, H and van Ittersum, M K and van Bussel, L G J and Wolf, J and Claessens, L and Leenaars, J G B and Cassman, K G (2017) Rooting for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental Research Letters, 12 (11). pp. 1-7. ISSN 1748-9326