“In Mozambique, agriculture is essential for economic growth, because the sector employs 80 percent of the labour force.” – FANRPAN Chair Sindiso Ngwenya

From Cape Town to Cairo, Nairobi to Accra, the climate change story is not reverberating on the streets.

It is a story echoing in international conference rooms of five star hotels and in the boardrooms of elite non-governmental organisations. The few bureaucrats who understand the issues don’t usually come out of their boardrooms to debate the subject. And hence, the man on the street is completely out of the picture.

In the days ahead, the one million hectares of fertile land along Lake Malawi and the country’s major rivers will be irrigated and cultivated in prepartion for the abundant harvest it will produce.

At the same time silos are being built across the country to ensure a steady supply of maize throughout the year.

Government also aims to find a quicker method for distributing seed, fertiliser, and harvest without the usual delays caused by bureaucratic red tape.

African governments could be treading dangerously by rushing into the production of biofuels while food insecurity still stalks the continent. This could result in failing to meet the targets for biofuels, and at the same time jeopardising food security.

A number of initiatives are already under way in several African countries to produce bio-diesel and ethanol from jatropha, sugarcane and palm. Vast tracts of land have already been set aside for the production of these plants for biofuels.

Improved seeds are key to increasing farmers’ yields and profits, but the seeds sold by multinational seed companies cannot be replanted the next year. This is fine for the companies bottom lines, but farmers who must buy new seeds every year are vulnerable.

Lameck Samson, a farmer from Thyolo District in South Malawi cycled for two hours to sell his recently harvested two bags of maize.

When he finally reached the rural Luchenza Trading Centre trading – there was only one buyer.

It was climate change that killed 10 people in Sierra Leone.
The culprit was the rain that would not stop.

Small scale farmers across Zambia have had to stand by and helplessly watch their crops and livestock being destroyed because of the effects of climate change.

Most of the 60,000 small scale farmers belonging to Rodger Phiri’s association know exactly what climate change means – many have experienced it first hand.