Helping Africa’s farmers adapt to weather extremes

In a community in southern Zimbabwe, a quiet miracle has happened this year.

The cluster of 250 villages has switched from growing maize to finger millet in response to last year's El Niño drought which decimated maize crops and caused hunger to emerge. Millets, one of the earliest plants to be domesticated by humans, are known for their resilience to climate extremes, as well as their nutritional benefits.

I’ve followed the story closely as the community’s leader is my brother and one of the lead farmers is my 85-year-old mother. Earlier this year, when I visited, she showed me the healthy young millet plants. In May, I saw videos of the tall millet grasses with their brown seed heads. And in June, at harvest, I learned how the new crop sold for US$20 a bucket, compared with US$5 for corn.

For this community of 30,000 people, the extra income has helped cover things like school fees and medical costs. My family has even invested in processing equipment to produce millet flour, adding even greater value to their crop.

As continental leaders prepare to gather in Addis Ababa for the second Africa Climate Summit, it is vital that they prioritize the needs of Africa's smallholder farmers as the backbone of food and nutrition security. Smallholder farmers like my family are racing to adapt to increasing weather extremes, but they need greater investment in innovations that support their efforts.

Fortunately, many of these solutions already exist. The shift to more resilient crops, including millet and sorghum, is already happening, but it can be accelerated with improved hybrid crop varieties that can deliver 10-30 percent higher yields, with stronger growth and better resistance to drought, pests, and diseases.

Building on decades of research and innovation, especially in staple crops like maize, 'speed breeding' techniques are halving the time needed to produce these stronger varieties. African scientists, like those at Kenya's Kiboko Research Station, are fast-tracking new hybrids, including for sorghum.

Advances in artificial intelligence are supporting a new generation of mobile phone-based advisory tools that provide farmers with localized information – on soil health, fertilizer use, and pest control – to help manage their plots. The Farmer.chat app and Virtual Agronomist are two tools already being used by hundreds of thousands of farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia, that are delivering significant increases in yields and incomes.

AI-powered weather forecasting is also being used in tools like these, to help farmers navigate unpredictable rains, with the Tomorrow Now initiative reaching over five million farmers in Kenya and expanding into Tanzania, Malawi, and Zambia.

Africa's farmers, like farmers anywhere, should have access to these technologies to help them adapt to climate threats. Technology does not replace the wisdom gathered by generations of farmers; rather, it must be layered on top of it. Farmers' needs and preferences must always be at the heart of technology design, especially those of women. But without innovation, Africa will not be able to adapt quickly enough to extreme heat, drought and floods–nor will it achieve its goal of feeding itself by 2050.

The continent has many brilliant scientists working on these challenges, but we need a more modern research ecosystem, like those of India, Brazil, and China. Their scientists work hand-in-glove with the private sector, so that efficient delivery systems are built into innovations from the outset, not as an afterthought.

African governments committed in January’s Kampala Declaration to devote 1 percent of agricultural GDP to research and development. This is a welcome move, but they now need to accelerate measures to create the right enabling environments, streamlining regulation and working towards frictionless trade corridors so the private sector can invest to take innovations to scale.

Following Bill Gates' recent announcement at the African Union that the Gates Foundation would be dedicating much of its US$200bn spend over the coming 20 years to Africa, we will be doubling down on supporting African innovators to forge solutions with farmers. But philanthropy is only one part of the puzzle; government action is key.

Decision-makers should know that investing in climate adaptation makes hard economic sense. A recent study from the World Resources Institute showed that every US$1 invested in adaptation and resilience generates over US$10 in benefits. The costs of inaction are equally stark.

The Africa Climate Summit is a moment for African countries to redouble their efforts towards a vision of climate-smart agriculture and food self-sufficiency, as laid out in the Kampala Declaration. It’s also a stepping stone on the road to COP30 in Brazil where African leaders will be calling for greater financing for adaptation. Currently only 1.7 percent of global climate finance goes to projects with smallholder farmers.