title: Drivers of household food availability in sub-Saharan Africa based on big data from small farms.
abstract: We calculated a simple indicator of food availability using data from 93 sites in 17 countries across contrasted agroecologies in sub-Saharan Africa (>13,000 farm households) and analyzed the drivers of variations in food availability. Crop production was the major source of energy, contributing 60% of food availability. The off-farm income contribution to food availability ranged from 12% for households without enough food available (18% of the total sample) to 27% for the 58% of households with sufficient food available. Using only three explanatory variables (household size, number of livestock, and land area), we were able to predict correctly the agricultural determined status of food availability for 72% of the households, but the relationships were strongly influenced by the degree of market access. Our analyses suggest that targeting poverty through improving market access and off-farm opportunities is a better strategy to increase food security than focusing on agricultural production and closing yield gaps. This calls for multisectoral policy harmonization, incentives, and diversification of employment sources rather than a singular focus on agricultural development. Recognizing and understanding diversity among smallholder farm households in sub-Saharan Africa is key for the design of policies that aim to improve food security.
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute, Livestock Systems and the Environment, Nairobi 00100, Kenya; International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Sustainable Intensification and Socioeconomics programs, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico;
authors.forename: Romain
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frelat
authors.affiliation: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Sustainable Intensification and Socioeconomics programs, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico;
authors.forename: Santiago
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lopez-Ridaura
authors.affiliation: Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands;
authors.forename: Ken E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5998-4652
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Giller
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Agriculture Flagship, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia;
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herrero
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute, Livestock Systems and the Environment, Nairobi 00100, Kenya;
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Douxchamps
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Geography, Lund University, S-223 62, Lund, Sweden;
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andersson Djurfeldt
authors.affiliation: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Sustainable Intensification and Socioeconomics programs, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico;
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Erenstein
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Agriculture Flagship, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia;
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Sustainable Intensification and Socioeconomics programs, 06600 Mexico City, Mexico;
authors.forename: Menale
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kassie
authors.affiliation: International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Tropical Forages Program, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Duduville Campus, Nairobi, Kenya;
authors.forename: Birthe K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Agriculture Flagship, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia; French National Institute for Agricultural Research, Unité Mixte de Recherche 1273 Metafort, 63122 Saint Genès-Champanelle, France;
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rigolot
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute, Livestock Systems and the Environment, Nairobi 00100, Kenya;
authors.forename: Randall S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Ritzema
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia;
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA-Uganda, Kampala, Uganda.
authors.forename: Piet J A
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: van Asten
authors.affiliation: International Livestock Research Institute, Livestock Systems and the Environment, Nairobi 00100, Kenya; m.vanwijk@cgiar.org.
authors.forename: Mark T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: van Wijk
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D000383:Agriculture; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005523:Food Supply; D005843:Geography; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer
keywords: farm size; food security; resource scarcity; smallholder farmers; yield gap