Experts Urge Action to Safeguard Crops Critical for Africa’s Food Security

Experts Urge Action to Safeguard Crops Critical for Africa’s Food Security

By Stella Ranji Ranji 

Nairobi, Friday, 13 February 2026 

Africa is rapidly losing the plant diversity that underpins food security, nutrition, climate resilience and rural livelihoods, according to the Third Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, launched regionally today in Nairobi, Kenya.

The findings, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), warn that crops — along with their varieties and wild relatives — as well as other wild plants harvested for food are disappearing faster than they are being conserved. These genetic resources are critical for enabling agrifood systems to adapt to climate change, which is increasingly manifesting through erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and extreme weather events.

“This report shows clearly that Africa is losing plant genetic diversity at a pace that threatens food security, nutrition and the overall resilience of agrifood systems,” said Chikelu Mba, Deputy Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division.

“Crop diversity — including farmers’ varieties or landraces, wild food plants and the genetic relatives of major crops — is essential for developing progressively improved crop varieties needed to climate-proof the continent’s agrifood systems. Yet many of these resources are disappearing faster than they are being protected, meaning their inherent potential may never be fully realised — not for the current generation, and certainly not for those who come after us,” he added.

Locally Adapted Crops Under Threat

Across Africa, locally adapted crop varieties developed and preserved by farmers over generations — known scientifically as landraces — are vanishing from fields. These include traditional varieties of staple crops such as sorghum, millet, yam, rice and cotton. Often better suited to local soils, climates and cultural preferences than commercial seed varieties, these crops provide farmers with critical resilience in the face of climate variability.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 16 percent of more than 12,000 distinct locally adapted crop varieties recorded across 19 countries have been identified as threatened. As droughts intensify and temperatures rise, the loss of these varieties is narrowing farmers’ options at a time when adaptive capacity is most needed.

“Africa’s food security and nutrition depend on the widest possible diversity of crops, trees and wild plants that farmers and communities have relied on for generations. As climate change accelerates, losing this diversity means losing the very options that allow agriculture to adapt,” said Éliane Ubalijoro, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry.

Wild Food Plants in Decline

The report highlights steep declines in wild food plants that serve as essential sources of vitamins, minerals and income — and act as safety nets during food shortages. Species such as baobab, shea, marula, tamarind and African bush mango are increasingly under pressure. Indigenous leafy vegetables including amaranth, spider plant, African nightshade, cowpea leaves and jute mallow are facing similar threats.

More than 70 percent of assessed wild food plant diversity in Africa is now considered threatened, primarily due to habitat loss, land-use change and climate stress — a rate of decline twice the global average. The erosion of these resources threatens the livelihoods and nutritional security of millions of households, particularly in rural communities.

Genetic Lifelines at Risk

The report also underscores alarming losses among crop wild relatives — wild plant species genetically related to major crops such as sorghum, millet, rice, yam and cowpea. These plants contain traits for drought tolerance, pest resistance and disease resilience that are vital for future crop breeding.

Over 70 percent of assessed crop wild relatives in Africa are under threat, yet African genebanks conserve only about 14 percent of those collected. This leaves much of the continent’s adaptive genetic potential vulnerable to irreversible loss.

“Plant genetic resources are the foundation of sustainable agrifood systems. Without stronger policies, investment and coordination, Africa risks losing irreplaceable plant diversity that supports livelihoods, food security and nutrition, and the ability of farming systems to withstand climate shocks,” Mba warned.

Fragile Seed Systems and Genebanks

Extreme weather events linked to climate change are accelerating these losses. Drought now accounts for nearly two-thirds of emergency seed interventions across Africa, with 110 responses recorded in 20 countries. While such interventions help farmers resume production, repeated crises place heavy strain on local seed systems and may inadvertently displace locally adapted varieties with less suitable alternatives.

The report also raises concerns about the security of Africa’s seed collections. Approximately 220,000 seed samples representing nearly 4,000 plant species are stored in 56 genebanks across the continent. However, only about 10 percent of these collections are safely duplicated in separate facilities, leaving them vulnerable to conflict, flooding, power outages and chronic underfunding.

Experts are calling for urgent action — including strengthened national policies, increased investment in conservation, improved seed systems and greater regional cooperation — to safeguard Africa’s plant genetic resources before more of the continent’s agricultural heritage is lost.

As climate pressures intensify, the report concludes, protecting crop diversity is no longer optional — it is essential to securing Africa’s food future.