Is reducing yield gaps an effective strategy to deal with food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa?

By Husain Alogaily

Yield gaps represent the difference between the potential genetic yield, and the average actual farm yield of a crop. As population growth in sub-Saharan Africa is rapidly accelerating at a pace much faster than the increases in food production, reducing yield gaps is increasingly being discussed as an important mechanism in combatting the rising food insecurity threat that the region faces. Despite the intuitive benefits, the damaging environmental consequences, such as increased greenhouse gas emissions and soil fertility loss, poor market access, and weak soil fertility have pushed critics to favour improving the distribution of food over intensifying production. This research paper analyses 3 staple crops in the region - maize, cassava, and cotton - and explores why reducing yield gaps can be an appropriate and necessary approach for SSA farmers to take, why it has the potential to be more effective than purely focusing on distribution channels, and finally how to optimize implementation. It will explore the underlying reasons behind big yield gaps in SSA including poor land management, fertilizer use, and irrigation systems, followed by the ideal mitigation of limiting factors such as weak soil fertility and poor market access. Finally, it will compare the potential effects of combining distribution with intensification strategies.