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Is growing maize the best use of Subsaharan Africa land if their productivity is ~33% of 'optimized' regions? Or is it better to sequester carbon that land? Th

Is growing maize the best use of Subsaharan Africa land if their productivity is ~33% of 'optimized' regions? Or is it better to sequester carbon that land? The world is not short of maize supply

nicoburns 6y ago
Or indeed grow other crops that might be better suited to the environment in that location.
- estsauver 6y ago
  Maize ends up being one of the most economically efficient and calorically dense crops to grow. If you have very little money to invest in your land, it's definitely one of your best choices. We're trying to get farmers a bit more capital access to be able to move to more productive systems, but if you don't have an extra 50$ for fertilizer, you definitely are going to struggle to switch to potatoes.
  - nicoburns 6y ago
    Yes, but it's often less resilient to variations in weather than other crops that are native in the region. So it's great until you get a drought and then you end up with a famine.
rmah 6y ago
It's only the best use for them if they want to continue to eat and live.
- Devils-Avocado 6y ago
  Why does a human in Africa have a greater right to landmass and habitat than an elephant, gorilla, or giraffe? If these humans are thriving thanks to Western technology and aid, I think we have the right to dictate their population levels and environmental impacts.
drewmol 6y ago
If you are asking: Is it better to somehow repurpose the areas of cropland in Sub Saharan Africa that are currently growing maize to optimize for emission reduction? Then the answer is no, not any time soon at least. Plenty of other land is available. - SSA has ~ 1.25B hectares of agricultural land.[0] - The total harvested area under maize in Africa was around 38.7 million hectares in 2018.[1] - Less than %10 of the Guinea Savannah region (a region where crops much more lucrative than maize can be grown, ~600M hectares) was farmed as of 2009.[2] [0]https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.K2?end=2016&locations=ZG&start=1961&view=chart https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.K2?end=2016... [1]https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/african-maize-market https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/african-... [2]https://image.slidesharecdn.com/60366271-evolution-economic-and-agriculture-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-110725105917-phpapp01/95/evolution-economic-and-agriculture-development-in-subsaharan-africa-17-728.jpg?cb=1311591993 https://image.slidesharecdn.com/60366271-evolution-economic-...

Is growing maize the best use of Subsaharan Africa land if their productivity is ~33% of 'optimized' regions? Or is it better to sequester carbon that land? The world is not short of maize supply

nicoburns 6y ago

Or indeed grow other crops that might be better suited to the environment in that location.

estsauver 6y ago
Maize ends up being one of the most economically efficient and calorically dense crops to grow. If you have very little money to invest in your land, it's definitely one of your best choices. We're trying to get farmers a bit more capital access to be able to move to more productive systems, but if you don't have an extra 50$ for fertilizer, you definitely are going to struggle to switch to potatoes.
- nicoburns 6y ago
  Yes, but it's often less resilient to variations in weather than other crops that are native in the region. So it's great until you get a drought and then you end up with a famine.

rmah 6y ago

It's only the best use for them if they want to continue to eat and live.

Devils-Avocado 6y ago
Why does a human in Africa have a greater right to landmass and habitat than an elephant, gorilla, or giraffe? If these humans are thriving thanks to Western technology and aid, I think we have the right to dictate their population levels and environmental impacts.

drewmol 6y ago

If you are asking: Is it better to somehow repurpose the areas of cropland in Sub Saharan Africa that are currently growing maize to optimize for emission reduction? Then the answer is no, not any time soon at least. Plenty of other land is available. - SSA has ~ 1.25B hectares of agricultural land.[0] - The total harvested area under maize in Africa was around 38.7 million hectares in 2018.[1] - Less than %10 of the Guinea Savannah region (a region where crops much more lucrative than maize can be grown, ~600M hectares) was farmed as of 2009.[2] [0]https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.K2?end=2016&locations=ZG&start=1961&view=chart https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.K2?end=2016... [1]https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/african-maize-market https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/african-... [2]https://image.slidesharecdn.com/60366271-evolution-economic-and-agriculture-development-in-sub-saharan-africa-110725105917-phpapp01/95/evolution-economic-and-agriculture-development-in-subsaharan-africa-17-728.jpg?cb=1311591993 https://image.slidesharecdn.com/60366271-evolution-economic-...