Abstract
African countries continue to be prone to drought, caused mainly by unfavorable weather patterns and climatic variations which have an adverse impact on rural households and agricultural production. This literature review article accounted for the aforesaid drawbacks and attempted to assess the effect of drought on food insecurity in African countries. This article further sought to dissect the resilience and climate change adaptation strategies applied by African countries to mitigate the adverse effects of drought on food insecurity in rural livelihoods. The hermeneutic framework was adopted in this study, where the secondary data sources were searched from credible bibliographic and multidisciplinary databases and organizational websites. Thereafter, it was classified, mapped, and critically assessed using the qualitative data analysis software NVivo to generate patterns and themes. The NVivo program is a qualitative data analysis software package produced by QSR International and which helps qualitative researchers to organize, analyze, and find insights in qualitative data; for example, in journal articles where multilayered analysis on small or large volumes of data are required. This article has the potential to contribute in theory, concept, policy, and practice regarding best practices, resilience, and climate change adaptation strategies that can be harnessed by rural people. Furthermore, this article has the potential to shed light on the role played by traditional leadership and policy improvements in ensuring there is sufficient food during periods of drought.
Highlights
African populations that mostly live below the international poverty line have been affected by growing undernourishment, famine, malnutrition, hunger, and the extreme manifestation of acute food insecurity at an unprecedented rate
This section critically synthesizes the literature review on four themes which are central to this study. These themes include the adaptation strategies used by local farmers in Africa, drought influences on food insecurity, the effect of drought on vulnerable groups, and resilience strategies
This literature review found a total of 26 sampled relevant empirical studies out of a total of 1346 studies that met the objectives of this study on drought influences on food insecurity in Africa
Summary
African populations that mostly live below the international poverty line have been affected by growing undernourishment, famine, malnutrition, hunger, and the extreme manifestation of acute food insecurity at an unprecedented rate. The frequency, duration, and intensity of droughts have generally increased worldwide, posing a constant threat to world food security. [1] posit that agricultural countries, such as Niger, employ over 80% of the country’s workforce, with an increasing number of the poorest of the poor in rural areas depending on unreliable and erratic rainfall patterns and recurrent droughts. This results in recurring deficits of production which generate food insecurity and exacerbate poverty. Public Health 2020, 17, 5897; doi:10.3390/ijerph17165897 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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