Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Agricultural sustainability has become a major policy and research priority in Africa, given the combined pressures of climate change, land degradation and persistent food insecurity. Within this context, growing attention has turned to whether climate-resilient soil management practices can support low-emission agricultural transitions while improving livelihood outcomes for smallholder farmers. To assess this potential, this paper used systematic review procedures to synthesise evidence from 82 Africa-specific empirical, review and institutional sources published between 2000 and March 2026; 15 additional global or methodological sources informed contextual framing but were excluded from systematic counts. Evidence was organised around climate relevance, soil-health outcomes, adoption and implementation conditions, and equity-related trade-offs and sources directly measured or modelled greenhouse-gas emissions, soil-carbon change or net-zero outcomes. Findings show that soil management is rarely promoted primarily for climate mitigation. Instead, it is linked to productivity, fertility recovery, erosion control, resilience and food security. Farmers’ adoption and sustained use of soil management practices is shaped by land tenure, labour availability, credit, extension, input access, local institutions and farmers’ expectations of short-term and long-term benefits. The evidence also shows important equity and trade-off issues. Women, youth, tenants and poorer households may face barriers to participation, while crop residues, manure, land and labour have competing uses.. The review concludes that soil-based net zero pathways are most credible when climate goals are integrated with locally relevant productivity, livelihood and soil health priorities. Policies should focus on effectively integrating tenure security, transition support, farmer-centred advisory systems and proportionate monitoring approaches to advancing net zero pathways through soil management.

This study examined the current status of the institutional arrangements of Agricultural Extension and Advisory System (AEAS) in Nigeria vis-à-vis the National Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP) launched in 2023 and issues related to its non-legislation over two years after. The review sought to identify critical gaps, constraints, and suggest ways to move forward. A mixed-method involving a desk review, use of secondary data and key informant interviews (KIIs) was adopted. Findings show the prevalence of pluralistic but fragmented arrangement, poor resourcing and associated performance. It was also noted that several unregulated and uncoordinated non-state AEAS provision were on-going and the non-legislation of the NAEP even after it has gone through first reading at the Senate. Most of the stake holders were of the view that a strong lobby group, including the Hon. Minister for Agriculture, Key members of AEAS associations and other high net-worth personalities with interest in AEAS should be engaged to facilitate the enactment of relevant portions of the NAEP into law. The legislation will ensure that key institutional issues like the steering committees, resourcing and coordination of the plural service provision are properly harnessed for implementation.

Youth unemployment remains a challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are suggestions that agriculture, with the right interventions, holds the potential to serve as a transformative sector for creating sustainable and productive jobs. However, there is a need to synthesize findings from studies across multiple countries to draw actionable lessons. This review highlights the state of youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa and synthesizes existing research on strategies to motivate youths to engage in agriculture. The review finds that while agriculture in the region offers significant opportunities, many young people still perceive farming as an undesirable career due to associations with poverty, hard labour and low economic returns. The review identifies several systemic issues including negative social and cultural perception of agriculture, limited access to land, inadequate training and resources, gender disparities in access to resources and decision-making, barriers to credit and modern farming equipment, lack of infrastructure, the digital divide between urban and rural youth and skills mismatches. Climate change was also identified as a key barrier. The paper identifies interventions, supportive policies and community-driven initiatives such as increasing awareness of agriculture as a viable business, reducing entry barriers through incorporating business-oriented agricultural education, coordinated efforts to reform land tenure, investment in rural infrastructure, providing targeted financial incentives and mentorship and using behavioural nudges like skill certification and training which can address these barriers and catalyse change. Consequently, agriculture can become a driving force for job creation, economic empowerment and contribute to the long-term solutions to youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Soil respiration (Rs) is defined as the emission of carbon dioxide from soil into the atmosphere, which represents a critical carbon flux within terrestrial ecosystems. Precipitation change significantly influences Rs, generating feedback mechanisms pertinent to global climate change. Nevertheless, the global distribution and environmental determinants of precipitation's effects on Rs remain uncertain. We compiled a database encompassing 570 Rs observations from field experiments that manipulated precipitation, derived from 221 published studies. Utilizing this comprehensive data set, we conducted a meta‐analysis to elucidate Rs responses to precipitation alterations. Subsequently, we employed a machine learning approach to provide a globally spatially explicit quantification of precipitation change effects on Rs under future climate scenarios. Our findings revealed that increased experimental precipitation markedly enhances Rs, while decreased precipitation inhibits it. Furthermore, Rs responses to precipitation change exhibited variability across ecosystems and climatic regions. This study also confirmed that the Rs responses vary based on the intensity and duration of precipitation change, with short‐term or heavy precipitation fluctuations exerting the strongest effects. Environmental conditions influenced the reaction of Rs to precipitation change, as factors such as soil type, vegetation, and climate worked together to mediate spatial differences. Projections based on bioclimatic predictors suggest that future climate scenarios significantly amplify Rs responses to precipitation change, potentially increasing uncertainties in greenhouse gas emissions estimates. Overall, our analysis emphasizes the significance of context dependencies and offers a spatially explicit assessment of precipitation change impacts on Rs on a global level, providing a comprehensive reference for comprehending ecosystem carbon dynamics.

As the human population undergoes a process of urbanization, this causes a fundamental change in human-wildlife relations. (1) The environmental change leads to conflicts between species of wildlife and humans. Some species have adapted to urban environments to the extent that allows them to survive and, in some species, even thrive. (2) The process of urbanization depends on the characteristics of the urban environment, mainly the supply of food and water, suitable places for growing and roosting, and a sense of security. (3) The relationships between humans and urban wildlife are very complex, and they lead to conflicts between humans and wildlife. Vague complaints from residents after encounters with wild animals often result in an ineffective response from local authorities. (4) To protect both city residents and wildlife, municipalities must take the following actions: (a) Municipalities and stakeholders should receive professional advice before taking action. (b) All stakeholders, including wildlife conservation organizations, municipalities, and city residents, must cooperate in reducing the environmental conditions that create conflicts with urban wildlife. (c) Municipalities and stakeholders must leverage valuable information from the wealth of literature on urban wildlife ecology and mammal and bird management to develop targeted programs.