Africa’s vanishing crop diversity: the silent crisis threatening our food future

Africa stands at a crossroads. A continent once celebrated for its astonishing agricultural diversity, where farmers cultivated thousands of unique crop varieties adapted to every soil and climate, is now witnessing a silent erosion of that genetic wealth. The Third Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) reveals a stark warning: Africa’s plant genetic wealth, the very foundation of its food security and cultural heritage, is disappearing.

Across the continent, more than 70 percent of crop wild relatives and wild food plant diversity are now considered threatened – twice the global average. Traditional landraces and farmers’ varieties, the products of generations of local adaptation and selection, are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 16 percent of the 12,000 inventoried landraces and farmers’ varieties are endangered, with staples like rice, cotton, yam, sorghum, and millet most affected.

The crisis is deepened by climate change. Droughts alone account for 65 percent of seed emergencies across 20 African countries, wiping out local varieties that once sustained communities through harsh seasons. As the continent warms faster than the global average, its genetic resilience, the very diversity that enables crops to withstand heat, pests, and erratic rains, is being lost.

Progress and peril in conservation

Africa has made strides in conserving genetic resources. Across 56 gene banks, 220,000 accessions from nearly 4,000 species are stored. Yet this progress masks dangerous gaps. Only 10 percent of these collections are safely duplicated, leaving irreplaceable genetic material at risk from natural disasters or political instability. Wild relatives and wild food plants, which are essential reservoirs of traits for climate resilience, make up just a fraction of collections: 14 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

Without greater investment in regeneration, cryopreservation, and safety duplication, Africa could lose vital crop genes before scientists even have a chance to study them.

Innovation exists but remains fragmented

Encouragingly, African scientists are taking steps in integrating conservation efforts with sustainable utilization. Countries reported that 44 percent of their germplasm accessions have been characterized, which is significantly above the global average. However, many breeding programs continue to rely primarily on morphological traits, with limited adoption and utilization of molecular tools that could enhance innovative resilience and nutritional qualities.

Efforts to commercialize underutilized crops (including indigenous staples like African eggplant and nutrient-rich introduced species like moringa and amaranth) indicate a shift toward more diversified and resilient food systems. However, these initiatives remain fragmented and underfunded.

A capacity crisis

Perhaps the most persistent challenge is human and institutional capacity. Only five sub-Saharan African countries have national plant genetic resources strategies. Documentation of on-farm and in situ conservation remains weak, and data sharing across institutions is fragmented.

Education and training systems reveal a concerning pattern of neglect: postgraduate PGRFA programs are missing in 27 percent of countries, while nearly two-thirds lack secondary-level education programs. As skilled professionals retire, few are being trained to replace them, leaving a critical gap in expertise.

Charting a way forward

The report’s recommendations are clear. Policymakers and donors must prioritize the inventorying of wild and cultivated plant diversity, strengthen gene banks and safety duplication, and invest in modern conservation infrastructure such as cryopreservation facilities. Governments should urgently develop or update national PGRFA strategies, backed by strong information systems that connect farmers, gene banks, research institutions, and community seed banks.

Investment in people is equally vital. Africa needs a new generation of plant geneticists, breeders, and conservation scientists, all of whom should be supported through robust academic programs, regional partnerships, and stable career pathways. Without such support, institutional memory and technical capacity will continue to erode.

Africa’s plant genetic resources are the foundation of its future food security. They hold the keys to adapting agriculture to climate change, improving nutrition, and safeguarding livelihoods. However, without coordinated and sustained investment, this biodiversity will vanish, silently and irreversibly.

The continent must rally around a shared vision: to conserve, regenerate, and use its plant genetic wealth for the benefit of all.

The seeds of Africa’s future are literally slipping through its fingers. The question is whether the continent, and the world, will act before they are gone forever.

This opinion piece was written by Yurdi Yasmi, Director of the Plant Production and Protection Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Africa.