Abstract
Africa is a net importer of food, especially cereal grains, despite the importance of agriculture in the continent. The agricultural growth in Africa has been undermined by low investment in agriculture, poor infrastructure, high population growth rate, and low adoption of technologies. The agri-food value chain in many African countries will benefit from the adoption of appropriate technologies that are available in the digital landscape to leverage the agricultural sector, make it more attractive to the teeming youth population, and to reverse rural-urban migration. Attention to indigenous cereal grains and other crops that are grown locally and processed into different local foods would ensure food security. However, the availability of these crops in the market is often reduced due to damage before harvest by pests and predators leading to economic losses for farmers. In this article, we review the literature from a multidisciplinary perspective on the relevance of African indigenous food grains to food security in general and we highlight the potential application of drones to increase the yield of cereal grains in three regions of the continent—eastern, western, and southern Africa.
Highlights
The importance of food and nutrition cannot be overemphasized, as reflected in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 2 that seeks to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”
Agriculture contributes to 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employs about 70% of the working population in Nigeria [17]
In Nigeria, 70% of the population are employed in the agriculture sector, which makes it crucial for the development of its economic growth
Summary
The importance of food and nutrition cannot be overemphasized, as reflected in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 2 that seeks to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. There is an urgent need in Africa to move from an agricultural economy that is dependent on cash crops for export, and dependent on imports and food aid, by encouraging the less known indigenous food crops that have helped to maintain food security in the past. Even though these traditional foods and related local know-how have been critical for the survival of society in the past, they remain less explored, less popularized, and less shared, both within the continent and beyond. We highlight the potential application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), with focus on how food security is enhanced through the use of drones to improve the supply of grains, storage, and distribution that are essential for their valorization
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