Agriculture in Africa, which supports more than 70 percent of the continent’s one billion people and provides 67 per cent of jobs, is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

An article in The Herald, Zimbabwe outlines the need to build strong agricultural systems that reinforce Africa’s food security in the face of climate change, a key goal in 2014 under the African Union’s year for ‘Agriculture and Food Security’.

To ensure Africans do not go hungry, agricultural systems need to be built that are “resilient to changing climates, that offer improved adaptive capacity to its peoples, that fully and efficiently utilize Africa’s expansive river network [and] that exploit its indigenous knowledge,” says the article.

Success stories and best practices such as agroforestry, on-site water conservation and the use of native species need to be brought to scale. Food production models that provide climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits, support farmers and preserve ecosystems are needed.

The article suggests the continent should focus on its traditional strengths in agriculture and the agrarian rural community, and weave in a forward looking focus on climate change as a key dimension to sustainable development.

Read the full story: Climate change will hit agriculture hardest