TY  - JOUR
AV  - public
A1  - Guilpart, N
A1  - Grassini, P
A1  - van Wart, J
A1  - Yang, H
A1  - van Ittersum, M K
A1  - van Bussel, L G J
A1  - Wolf, J
A1  - Claessens, L
A1  - Leenaars, J G B
A1  - Cassman, K G
TI  - Rooting for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9003
JF  - Environmental Research Letters
SN  - 1748-9326
PB  - IOP Publishing
N1  - Support for this research was provided by the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation and the Daugherty Water
for Food Global Institute at University of Nebraska-
Lincoln (UNL).Wethank other members of the Global
Yield Gap Atlas team who have been involved in
the project: H de Groot and H Boogaard (Wageningen
Environmental Research). We thank the country
agronomists that contributed to the Global Yield
Gap Atlas for their respective countries including: Dr
Korodjouma Ouattara (Institut de l?Environnement et
de Recherches agricoles, Burkina Faso), Dr Mamoutou
Kouressy (Institute of Rural Economy, Mali), Dr
Abdullahi Bala (Federal University of Technology,
Minna, Nigeria), Dr Samuel Adjei-Nsiah (University
of Ghana, Ghana), Dr Kindie Tesfaye (CIMMYT,
Ethiopia), Dr Ochieng Adimo (Jomo Kenyatta University
of Agriculture andTechnology, Kenya),DrJoachim
Makoi (Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and
Cooperatives, Tanzania), Dr Kayuki Kaizzi (National
Agriculture Research Laboratories, Uganda), and Dr
Regis Chikowo (University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe).
N2  - There is a persistent narrative about the potential of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to be a 'grain breadbasket' because of large gaps between current low yields and yield potential with good management, and vast land resources with adequate rainfall. However, rigorous evaluation of the extent to which soils can support high, stable yields has been limited by lack of data on rootable soil depth of sufficient quality and spatial resolution. Here we use location-specific climate data, a robust spatial upscaling approach, and crop simulation to assess sensitivity of rainfed maize yields to root-zone water holding capacity. We find that SSA could produce a modest maize surplus but only if rootable soil depths are comparable to that of other major breadbaskets, such as the US Corn Belt and South American Pampas, which is unlikely based on currently available information. Otherwise, producing surplus grain for export will depend on expansion of crop area with the challenge of directing this expansion to regions where soil depth and rainfall are supportive of high and consistent yields, and where negative impacts on biodiversity are minimal.
KW  - Food security; Sub-saharan Africa; Yield gap; Maize; Soil depth; Water requirements; African agriculture
Y1  - 2017/11//
SP  - 1
ID  - icrisat10341
EP  - 7
VL  - 12
IS  - 11
ER  -