Chukwudi Nwaogu a b , Denny Thame a c , Douglas Castro d , Maurício Roberto Cherubin a c
- aDepartment of Soil Science, “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, 11 Pádua Dias Avenue, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil
- bDepartment of Environmental Management, School of Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 1526, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
- cCenter for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture (CCARBON), University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, 13418-900, Brazil
- dInternational Law in the School of Law, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
Highlights
- Carbon farming and food security are not opposing but complementary goals.
- Agroecological similarities between the regions promoted the success of the programs.
- The newly lunched ABC Plan+ of Brazil will generate more projects and food in Africa.
- For sustainable success, African heads should address key drivers of food insecurity.
Abstract
Carbon farming (CF), also known as low-carbon agriculture or climate-smart agricultural system, has gained significant attention in recent years as a potential nature-based solution for mitigating climate change and food shortage. However, there is a common misconception that CF opposes food security, thus hindering its widespread adoption. There is also a knowledge gap on the roles of the Brazilian government in supporting food security in Africa through its training and support for agricultural practices associated with CF system. In this paper, we accentuated that CF and food security have no opposing objectives but can be achieved simultaneously through integrated agricultural systems (IAS). We further investigated CF, its practices, and agricultural outputs (here referred to as ‘products’) including food crops, animal products, and by-products resulting from CF systems by sampling the farmers’ perceptions in Africa. We also highlighted the agricultural evolutionary reforms in Brazil, the agroecological similarities between Brazil and Africa, and how these contributed to the success of Brazil’s agricultural and food security vis-a-vis support to Africa. Additionally, our work identified major Brazil’s food security projects in Africa by mapping their distribution across the continent. Finally, we examined the implications of Brazil’s CF for food security in Africa by identifying the driving policies, challenges and prospects of the support in improving food security for the rapidly growing African population. This study underscores Brazil’s relevance as a model for carbon farming implementation in tropical regions due to its shared agroecological conditions with Africa and its demonstrated success in transforming food systems through integrated, low-carbon agricultural policies. The study will also awaken and reinvigorate the zeal in stakeholders in Africa to follow the footsteps of Brazil in developing their agricultural reforms to be self-reliance in providing enough food for the Africans.
Keywords
Food production; Low-carbon agriculture; Integrated agricultural systems; Nature-based solution; Brazil; Africa
