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Climate Change Adaptation: Adoption of GMOs in Africa

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Handbook of Climate Change Resilience

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Abstract

Africa faces the risks of climate change due to variable climate as seen in low rainfalls and high temperature patterns. Drought affects crops and animal breeding, whereas warm temperature helps increase the incidence of insect pests and diseases that lower agricultural productivity. Beyond these are the issues of poor governance, political instability, and lack of capacity to increase productivity and foster agricultural developments.

Herdsmen in search of foliage and water engage in conflicts with farmers, and this has caused displacement of local farmers. This has further endangered food security in Africa and makes it hard for Africa to achieve zero hunger goal by 2030. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s fifth assessment report has also predicted that agricultural yields will decline by 2% per decade due to climate change, while demand for food is expected to increase by 14% per decade.

The aim of this paper is to identify adaptation strategies to manage climate change risks in Africa. Stress- and pest-resistant crops are required to support Africa’s ability to adapt to variable rainfall and temperature patterns. This paper also reviewed the literature with the aim to find out if the adoption of genetically modified crops could be an adaptation strategy for Africa. It also looked at factors that could make or mar the adoption of GM crops as climate adaptation strategy in Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Technology Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

    Emmanuel Ejim-Eze

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  1. Emmanuel Ejim-Eze
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Correspondence to Emmanuel Ejim-Eze .

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  1. FTZ-NK, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences , Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Ejim-Eze, E. (2019). Climate Change Adaptation: Adoption of GMOs in Africa. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Resilience. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71025-9_168-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71025-9_168-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71025-9

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