Africa’s food security is entering its most precarious era yet as climate change accelerates unpredictable weather patterns, devastates livelihoods, and threatens long-term agricultural productivity.
This was the central message delivered by Ms. Ogheneovo Ugbebor, a market systems development expert, during her keynote address at the DIniti8tive-Agropedia Webinar themed “Climate Risk Management and its Impacts on Food Security: Leveraging Innovation for Resilient Food Systems in Africa.”
Ms. Ugbebor was represented by Nkemjika Onuoha.
Speaking to a diverse audience of policymakers, agritech innovators, development practitioners, and private-sector actors, Ugbebor painted a sobering picture of the climate-induced pressures reshaping Africa’s food supply chain.
She noted that farmers who once relied on stable weather cycles now face unprecedented uncertainty.
“Across our continent today, farmers who once planned their planting cycles with confidence now wait in uncertainty watching the skies for rains that may arrive too late, too early, too lightly, or in destructive torrents,” she said. “Entire communities have seen their livelihoods swept away by floods in a matter of minutes, while families struggle under rising food prices triggered by disruptions that no one can fully predict.”
A Continent in Crisis: The Numbers Tell the Story
Statistics detailed in her address revealed the magnitude of the unfolding crisis:
- Sub-Saharan Africa is warming faster than the global average.
- Climate impacts could reduce crop yields by up to 20% by 2050.
Nigeria loses $9–10 billion annually to floods, droughts, and extreme weather.
An estimated 26.5 million Nigerians may face acute food insecurity in 2025.
“These are not just statistics,” Ugbebor emphasized. “They represent real people, the smallholder farmers who produce over 70 percent of our food, the women who process and retail it, and the young agripreneurs building solutions amid growing uncertainty.”
She stressed that conversations like the DIniti8tive–Agropedia dialogue are not just timely, they are urgent.
The Triple Threat: Conflict, Climate, and COVID-19
Ugbebor identified what she called the “three Cs”: Conflict, Climate Change, and COVID-19, as intersecting forces expanding Africa’s food vulnerability.
Climate change is pushing communities to clear forests, degrade land, and adopt practices that worsen environmental decline.
Conflicts continue to disrupt farming and displace agricultural workers. Meanwhile, COVID-19’s aftershocks have exposed weak supply chains and highlighted overdependence on fragile systems.
“Without adaptation,” she warned, “Africa risks losing 6 to 30 percent of its GDP by 2050, equivalent to $100–$400 billion.”
Direct Impacts: How Climate Change Is Rewriting Agriculture
Ugbebor listed the immediate consequences of climate instability:
- Frequent crop failures
- Rising pest and disease outbreaks
- Increased resistance to pesticides
- Water scarcity and shrinking farmlands
- Rapid desertification and soil degradation
“These dynamics reveal that Nigeria’s food system is not simply stressed,” she said. “It is being reshaped.”
Innovation: Africa’s Greatest Opportunity for Adaptation
Despite the grim projections, Ugbebor maintained that Africa has enormous potential to withstand climate shocks, if innovation is placed at the heart of adaptation.
She highlighted technologies already changing the agricultural landscape:
- Climate-resilient and adaptive seed varieties
- Improved water-harvesting and irrigation systems
- IoT-enabled farm and environmental monitoring
- AI-powered early warning systems and disease detection
- Advanced breeding techniques for crops and livestock
But she insisted that innovation must be coupled with stronger collaboration and deliberate investment.
“Academia must leave the four walls of the school and offer practical solutions in real-time,” she advised, calling on universities and research institutions to co-create with industry and last-mile farmers.
She further stressed Africa’s opportunities in technology transfer, both intra-African and global, if local needs remain central to design and deployment.
The Missing Link: Storage, Logistics, and Market Systems
While food production remains vital, Ugbebor noted that Africa’s food crisis is equally an infrastructure crisis.
“Some regions suffer overproduction and massive post-harvest losses, while others face chronic underproduction,” she said. “The problem is not always insufficient food, it is inefficient distribution.”
She advocated for:
- Tech-enabled logistics and supply chain systems
- Stronger regional trade
- Modern storage and aggregation facilities
- Robust market linkages that ensure farmers earn sustainable income
These, she said, are the types of innovations that can propel Nigeria toward food sovereignty, not merely food security.
Collaboration: The Cornerstone of Climate Resilience
Ugbebor underscored that no single sector can tackle climate risks alone.
“We need the research expertise of institutions, the digital agility of agritech companies, the market linkages of the private sector, the policy direction of the government, and the trust built by development organisations,” she said.
She also called on donors and financiers to invest beyond pilots and support scalable national and regional solutions.
“Policy must reinforce what works and remove barriers that prevent the adoption of climate-smart practices.”
Ikore’s Commitment and Call to Action
Ugbebor concluded with a firm call for greater investment and cross-sector collaboration, congratulating DIniti8tive and expressing the readiness of her organisation, Ikore, to support future efforts.
“Ikore is firmly committed to advancing this work,” she said. “Our strength lies in testing and validating innovations that drive climate adaptation in real-world conditions. We stand ready to work with partners here today to scale impactful, context-driven innovations across our food systems.”
She urged stakeholders; governments, companies, research bodies, and development actors, to take immediate action.
“If we get climate risk management right, our food systems will not only survive, they will thrive. But if we delay, the costs in human lives, economic loss, and social instability will be immeasurable.”
Ugbebor heaped praises on the organisers DIniti8tive and Agropedia for taking the lead and providing a platform for researchers to access data, for farmers to share their experiences and receive help from innovators; even as institutions shared funding opportunities with about 100 participants at the event.
