What are the impacts of climate change on sustainable food production, food demand, and population numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa? A systematic review
Authors: Tesfay Solomon 
Published: March 2024

Introduction: Climate change is a global phenomenon that is one of the key issues our globe faces in the twenty-first century to feed nine to ten billion people sustainably by 2050. It is a common and dynamic phenomenon caused by complex and interconnected physical, environmental, and human elements. Because it relies on agriculture and natural resources, warmer baseline conditions, low precipitation, and limited ability to adapt, Sub-Saharan Africa is regarded as the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Climate change affects and contributes significantly to food and agriculture. Sub-Saharan Africa is a rapidly developing region with a population of over 900 million people and a diverse ecological, meteorological, and cultural variety. It boasts the world's youngest and fastest-increasing population, and it is the only region where the rural population, particularly rural youth, will continue to expand past 2050.
Methods: My systematic searches were based on past review methods, which included using database platforms or bibliographic databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, CAB abstracts, Science Direct, and JSTOR. I also ran a Google Scholar search. My searches were all restricted to Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, I gathered all search results and reviewed all articles retrieved using preset inclusion criteria. I found over 50 publications, including key FAO and World Bank reports, that answered the highlighted problems. All articles were screened twice (title and abstract, then full-text), with consistency checks at each stage. Relevant publications were read critically, and meta-data and quantitative data were extracted and entered into a database. All included studies were reported narratively, and those that matched the meta-analysis requirements were presented descriptively.
Review Findings: More than 80% of the research agreed that climate change and its implications are current problems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of them forecast predicted changes in population numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa and the related demand for food, as well as examine major climate changes and explain how these changes may affect food production. Food demand in Sub-Saharan Africa is increasing due to socioeconomic and population growth. To increase food security and demand in the face of predicted demographic, economic, and environmental changes, aggressive measures are required. Although international food demand is expected to climb by 60% by 2050 compared to 2005/2007, the increase in Sub-Saharan Africa would be substantially bigger. Food prices in many Sub-Saharan African nations are rising faster than household incomes and other economic prospects. Food demand typically rises with urbanization as the population shifts from rural, presumably food-producing, to urban, primarily for food consumption.
Conclusions: Sub-Saharan Africa has been identified as the most susceptible not only because of its significant exposure to severe climate change but also because many of its inhabitants cannot respond to or adapt to the effects of climate change. Over 90% of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is rain-fed, and subsistence is neither technically nor financially robust enough to mitigate the negative effects of climate change, with little room for adaptation. As a result of this analysis, Sub-Saharan Africa is confirmed to be the most vulnerable region to climate change. As a result, governments and development organizations should focus on developing and implementing policies and programs that encourage farm-based adaptation techniques, and then they should be implemented and disseminated with farmers' participation.