African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services

A Circular Knowledge-based Bio-Economy offers a Feasible and Sustainable Development Solution for Socio-economic Transformation of Africa

In Africa, over 85% of the population (1.42 billion) depend on subsistence farming for livelihood [1], thus making most of the national economies solely based on agriculture without the support of the advanced manufacturing sector. The African food system is off-track, and climate is changing profoundly, making climate change and food insecurity one of the leading development challenges for the continent. As the climate changes rapidly, it brings major new risks for the African economies. Across rural communities, farmers are at the forefront of responding to and coping with shocks, using local networks, traditional knowledge and capacities to build resilience against adverse climate change effects. But scale and unpredictability of future risks, rising inequalities, and low capacities mean that new support is required to sustain a people-centred approach to climate resilience, including more frequent and severe weather episodes, mainly dry spells, heat waves, erratic rainfall,floods and droughts [3].