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Bambara Groundnut for Food Security in the Changing African Climate

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Sustainable Agriculture Reviews

Part of the book series: Sustainable Agriculture Reviews ((SARV,volume 19))

Abstract

Global food production must respond to the demands of a growing world population, and to the hazards of climate change. Higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and weather patterns, changes in growing seasons, increased occurrences of drought and extreme weather events will exert a greater strain on agriculture. These changes are forecasted to have a high impact in Africa. Warming in Africa should be greater than the global average, with decreasing precipitation leading to higher occurrence of drought in many regions. Climate change will cause shifts in food production and yield loss due to more unpredictable weather patterns. Climate change will also affect food prices and increase malnutrition, especially amongst children. Improving crop productivity and nutritional content is therefore vital.

Here we review the potential of an underutilised crop, Bambara groundnut, to contribute to food security in changing African climates. The major points are: (1) under future climate change scenarios, African rainfall patterns are expected to become more erratic and temperatures will be higher. (2) Climate change predictions in sub-Saharan Africa anticipate cereal yield losses. (3) Actually, with only three plant species accounting for more than 90 % of the world caloric intake, it is clear that an abundance of genetic resources and potentially beneficial crops are being neglected. (4) There is now ample evidence demonstrating Bambara groundnut superior tolerance to drought conditions relative to other legumes. (5) Bambara groundnut has a high nutritive content and can therefore be used in combatting malnutrition. (6) Bambara groundnut can be successfully intercropped with African staple cereals to improve productivity and contribute to soil fertility through nitrogen fixation.

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgements Special thanks to Crops for the Future (CFF) for sponsorship of this work under the BamYIELD research programme.

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  1. School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, Semenyih, Selangor, 43200, Malaysia

    Philip Cleasby, Festo J. Massawe & Rachael S. Symonds

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  1. Philip Cleasby
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  2. Festo J. Massawe
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  3. Rachael S. Symonds
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Correspondence to Philip Cleasby .

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    Eric Lichtfouse

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Cleasby, P., Massawe, F.J., Symonds, R.S. (2016). Bambara Groundnut for Food Security in the Changing African Climate. In: Lichtfouse, E. (eds) Sustainable Agriculture Reviews. Sustainable Agriculture Reviews, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26777-7_9

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