Current Status and Trends in Cabo Verde Agriculture

Abstract

With climate change, drought is expected to increase, and its negative impacts will be particularly important in developing countries, usually with rainfall-dependent agriculture. The Cabo Verde archipelago is characterized by limited resources, remoteness, vulnerability to natural disasters, and a fragile environment. In this study, we provide the first report of the current status and trends of agriculture in Cabo Verde. We present data on the current performance of agricultural production areas in these islands and discuss them in terms of their most important natural constraint, water. Also, we assess the impact of institutional strategies on crop production and evaluate recent mechanisms that have been engaged towards agrarian development in this archipelago. Our results show that, among the ten Cabo Verde Islands, Santiago has the largest area used for agriculture (52.5%), followed by Santo Antão (16%) and Fogo (15.8%), and that rainfed farming dominates in all of them. The staple crops, such as maize and beans, are produced through rainfed subsistence farming, whereas irrigated crops (i.e., sugarcane, tomatoes) are mostly grown for commercial purposes. The prolonged drought periods, exposure, erosion and soil degradation, which led to increasing desertification over the last decades, have been identified as the main constraints to agrarian development across the ten islands of the archipelago. The strategies of Cabo Verde government to mitigate water scarcity through small-scale irrigation based mainly on small dams and drip irrigation technology have a marked effect on agricultural production in the predominantly arid and semi-arid areas of this archipelago.

Cabo Verde’s Poaceae Flora: A Reservoir of Crop Wild Relatives Diversity for Crop Improvement

“…Although its agriculture is limited by a set of natural constraints (e.g., persistent drought periods, scarcity of quality soil, small territory available as farmland), this archipelago has shown considerable progresses toward overall development in the agriculture sector during the last two decades ( Varela et al, 2020 ). Nevertheless, there is only official information on cultivation for two Poaceae species, Zea mays (maize) and Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) ( Monteiro et al, 2020 ). Maize is cultivated as a rainfed crop and used for human food and fodder; sugarcane is the most important irrigated crop and occupies the largest harvest area, its main purpose being the production of a by-product, the highly alcoholic drink “grog,” very much appreciated and exported as a national product ( Monteiro et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Nevertheless, there is only official information on cultivation for two Poaceae species, Zea mays (maize) and Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) ( Monteiro et al, 2020 ). Maize is cultivated as a rainfed crop and used for human food and fodder; sugarcane is the most important irrigated crop and occupies the largest harvest area, its main purpose being the production of a by-product, the highly alcoholic drink “grog,” very much appreciated and exported as a national product ( Monteiro et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Although this is one of the most important plant families in Cabo Verde and despite the importance of several crop species for humans and livestock, studies are scarce, particularly concerning the diversity of grasses in this archipelago. Moreover, there are threats, particularly to the endemic flora ( Romeiras et al, 2016 ), requiring in situ (in natural habitats) and ex situ (in gene banks) conservation of the unique plant genetic resources that can assist the improvement of these crops and, consequently, ensure food security ( Monteiro et al, 2020 ).…”

Bayesian Methods to Analyze Historical Collections in Time and Space: A Case Study Using Cabo Verde Endemic Flora

“…First, for some islands, climate data is limited; indeed most islands do not have weather stations. Second, our analysis require a time series that is not available and there is plenty evidence that climate has changed considerably in the last 200 years, to the point where present data would not provide precise information on how the weather was in the past two centuries in Cabo Verde (Monteiro et al, 2020). The use of information available in datasets such as WorldClim -Global Climate Data 4 or CHELSA 5 , is typically at spatial scales that are not informative for the topography of the Cabo Verde Islands, 4 http://worldclim.org/ 5 http://chelsa-climate.org/ wherein there is significant spatial variation with altitude and exposure to the trade winds being responsible for contrasting weather conditions over small distances.…”

The Role of Climate and Topography in Shaping the Diversity of Plant Communities in Cabo Verde Islands

“…These anthropogenic pressures interact with climate change impacts and will increase threats to insular floras during the 21st century [79,80]. Over the past decades, Cabo Verde has been affected by serious and prolonged droughts [81] that have negative impacts on the distribution and abundance of the endemic plant species, which have already small population sizes and occur in fragmented habitats [34].…”