Africa is losing the plant diversity that supports food security and nutrition, climate resilience and livelihoods across the continent.

This is according to the Third Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which was launched regionally in Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.

The findings of the Third Report, published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), show 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 resources are essential for helping agrifood systems adapt to climate change, which is increasingly felt through erratic and extreme weather.

FAO Deputy Director of the Plant Production and Protection Division Chikelu Mba said that 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.

Chikelu Mba observed that 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.

“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,” Mba said.

“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,” the FAO scientist said.

Locally adapted crop varieties developed and passed down by farmers over generations (scientifically known as landraces) are disappearing from farms across Africa. These include varieties of staple crops such as sorghum, millet, yam, rice and traditional cotton.

Such crops are often better suited to local soils and climates than commercial varieties, some of which were not bred for Africa’s diverse agroecological conditions or farmers’ preferences.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 16 per cent of more than 12,000 of these distinct locally adapted crop varieties (unique accessions) recorded across 19 countries were found to be threatened, narrowing farmers’ options as droughts and heat intensified.

CEO of the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) Eliane Ubalijoro said that as climate change accelerates, losing this diversity means losing the very options that allow agriculture to adapt.

“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” Ubalijoro said.

The Third Report also highlights sharp declines in wild food plants, which provide essential nutrients and act as safety nets for vulnerable populations during times of food scarcity. These include species such as baobab, shea, marula, tamarind and African bush mango. Indigenous leafy vegetables commonly eaten across Africa are facing similar pressures, including amaranth, spider plant, African nightshade, cowpea leaves and jute mallow.

These plants play an important role in supporting rural livelihoods and their decline threatens the wellbeing of millions of people and their households.

According to the report, more than 70 per cent of assessed wild food plant diversity in Africa is threatened, mainly due to habitat loss, land-use change and climate stress. This rate of decline is double the global average.

The report also draws attention to the loss of crop wild relatives. These are wild plants related to major food crops such as sorghum, millet, rice, yam, cowpea and African eggplant. They carry traits for drought tolerance, pest and disease resistance that are essential for future crop improvement efforts.

The report finds that over 70 per cent of assessed crop wild relatives in Africa are under threat, while African gene banks conserve only about 14 per cent of those collected. As a result, many adaptive traits are at risk of irreversible loss.

Further, the report states that extreme weather events caused by climate change are already accelerating these losses. Drought now drives nearly two-thirds of emergency seed interventions across Africa with 110 responses recorded in 20 countries.

While these interventions help farmers restart crop production, repeated emergencies place heavy strain on local seed systems and can displace locally adapted crop varieties with those that are poorly suited to local conditions.

 The report also raises concerns about the security of Africa’s seed collections. Around 220,000 seed samples from nearly 4,000 plant species are conserved in 56 African gene banks, yet only about 10 percent of collections are safely duplicated elsewhere.

This leaves them vulnerable to conflict, flooding, power failures and chronic underinvestment. “Conserving and using Africa’s plant genetic resources is not a luxury,” Ubalijoro added. “It is a necessity for resilient agrifood systems in a changing climate.”

Despite the risks, the Third Report also identifies opportunities. Fourteen African countries report that 44 per cent of their seed collections have been studied and described, exceeding the global average, while 21 countries are actively breeding improved varieties of 81 crop species, including underutilised crops such as African eggplant, amaranth, moringa and indigenous vegetables.

The findings of the Third Report call for urgent, coordinated action to strengthen policies, invest in seed systems and gene banks, build scientific and technical capacity and support farmers and communities as custodians of plant genetic diversity.

Without decisive action, Africa risks losing irreplaceable resources essential for food security, resilience and sustainable development.

• A Tell Media / KNA By Anita Omwenga