MOUNTAIN ADAPTATION OUTLOOK SERIES

Agriculture and food security

Agriculture is the backbone of East Africa’s economy,

and the most important livelihood strategy for

mountain communities is to ensure regional food

security. East Africa’s mountainous areas are known

for their favourable agricultural conditions due

to their fertile volcanic soils, cooler temperatures

and more stable rainfall patterns (FAO, 2013; FAO,

2014). As a consequence, the population densities

in the mountainous areas of East Africa are much

higher than in lowland areas. While Africa has an

average population density of 35 people per km²,

the mountain slopes of Mount Elgon in Uganda

have a population density of 900 people per km²

(UNEP, 2014). Similarly, the majority of Ethiopia’s

population, nearly 90 per cent, live in the Ethiopian

Highlands, which has the country’s most productive

agricultural land and receives the highest rainfall

(Alweny et al., 2014; Josephson et al., 2014). Due

to the intense population pressure, farm sizes are

small – generally below 2 hectares (FAO, 2013). In

Rwanda, 25 per cent of families have less than 0.2

hectares of arable land (UNEP, 2014). As a result of

the small size of land holdings, 50 to 60 per cent

of the population lives in poverty in East Africa’s

mountains (FAO, 2013) and food insecurity is

widespread (UNEP, 2014). The pressure on limited

land leads to deforestation and, as a consequence,

land degradation through soil erosion is a common

feature on the fertile mountain land (Alweny et

al., 2014). Coupled with other risk factors such as

remoteness and poor infrastructure, mountain

communities and the agricultural sector are

extremely vulnerable to climate change.

Although climate change is predicted to lead to

wetter conditions, the current trend for East Africa

has been towards a warmer and drier climate with

less reliable rainfall patterns. Mountain farmers

depending on rain-fed agriculture are especially

vulnerable to variable rainfall patterns (Bishaw

et al., 2013). Such changes have been reported

(FAO, 2013) and are blamed for crop failure and

famine during recent decades (Alweny et al., 2014).

Extreme events such as floods and drought have

increased during the past 30 to 60 years (Niang

et al., 2014), destroying crops, infrastructure,

agricultural land, homes, livelihoods, as well as

exacerbating food insecurity and taking many lives

(NEMA, 2010a; MoWE, 2013). The communities

cultivating and living on mountainous land are

especially vulnerable to landslides during heavy

rainfall. Landslides are, to a large extent, a result of

clearing forests for cultivation and the removal of

the soils’ natural protection from erosion. OnMount

Elgon, for example, 70 per cent of all landslides in

the twentieth century occurred after 1997 when

large areas of forest were cleared. Recent incidents

in 2010 and 2012 resulted in 500 deaths, while

hundreds of others were displaced (UNEP, 2014).

The loss of fertile soil, crops and livestock is putting

the population at risk of famine and is further

increasing the pressure on limited agricultural land

on Mount Elgon (MoWE, 2013).

SUDAN

SOUTH SUDAN

ERITREA

DJIBOUTI

ETHIOPIA

SOMALIA

KENYA

UGANDA

TANZANIA

ZAMBIA

DRC

RWANDA

BURUNDI

Croplands

SUDAN

SOUTH SUDAN

ERITREA

DJIBOUTI

ETHIOPIA

SOMALIA

KENYA

UGANDA

TANZANIA

ZAMBIA

DRC

RWANDA

BURUNDI

Sources:T.P.Robinsonetal

.,2014,Mapping theglobaldistributionof livestock,PLoSONE9(5);V.W.MasonandJ.Treat,2014, “Africa’sFoodChallenge”,NationalGeographicMagazine.

Cattle

Heads per km

400 km

Ecosystem services

Livestock

Agriculture

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