Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40489617›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Prospects for cereal self-sufficiency in sub-Saharan Africa.

Martin K van Ittersum, Seyyedmajid Alimagham, João Vasco Silva, Samuel Adjei-Nsiah, Frederick P Baijukya, Abdullahi Bala, Regis Chikowo, Patricio Grassini, Hugo L E de Groot, Aphrodis Nshizirungu and 7 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Martin K van Ittersum *Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen 6700AK, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8611-6781
Seyyedmajid Alimagham *Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen 6700AK, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8685-6798
João Vasco SilvaPlant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen 6700AK, The Netherlands.
Samuel Adjei-NsiahCollege of Basic and Applied Sciences, Forest and Horticultural Crops Research Centre, University of Ghana, Legon Accra LG25, Ghana.ORCID 0000-0003-4428-5063
Frederick P BaijukyaInternational Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania.
Abdullahi BalaDepartment of Soil Science, Federal University of Technology Minna PMB65, Nigeria.
Regis ChikowoCrop Science Department, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe/International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Sustainable Agrifood Systems Program (SAS), Harare MP163, Zimbabwe.ORCID 0000-0003-3047-359X
Patricio GrassiniDepartment of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915.ORCID 0000-0002-7501-842X
Hugo L E de GrootEarth Observation and Environmental Informatics, Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen 6700AA, The Netherlands.
Aphrodis NshizirunguPlant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen 6700AK, The Netherlands.
Abdelkader Mahamane SouléDépartement des Cultures Pluviales, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger, Niamey BP 429, Niger.
Timothy B SulserForesight and Policy Modeling Unit, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, D.C. 20005.ORCID 0000-0001-7128-5283
Godfrey TaulyaDepartment of Soil Science and Land Use Management, Makerere University, Kampala 7062, Uganda.ORCID 0000-0002-5690-0492
Fatima Amor TenorioDepartment of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915.ORCID 0000-0001-9836-3878
Kindie TesfayeClimate Adaptation, Sustainable Agriculture and Resilience Unit, AGRA, Nairobi 66773, Kenya.
Shen YuanNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China (MARA) Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
Marloes P van LoonPlant Production Systems Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen 6700AK, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8665-0810

Funding

Gates Foundation INV-005431Gates Foundation INV-030103Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) INV-018444
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the world's largest projected increase in demand for food. Increased dependence on imports makes SSA vulnerable to geopolitical and economic risks, while further expansion of agricultural land is environmentally harmful. Cereals, in particular, maize, millet, rice, sorghum, and wheat, take nearly 50% of the cropland and 43% of the calories and proteins consumed in the region. Demand is projected to double until 2050. Here, we assess recent developments in cereal self-sufficiency and provide outlooks until 2050 under different intensification, area expansion, and climate change scenarios. We use detailed data for ten countries. Cereal self-sufficiency increased between 2010 and 2020 from 84 to 92% despite the 29% population increase. The production increase was achieved by increased yields per hectare (44%), area expansion (34%), and a shift from millet to the higher yielding maize (22%). Outlooks for 2050 are less pessimistic than earlier assessments because of the larger 2020 baseline area, higher shares of maize and somewhat less steep projected population increase. Yet, to halt further area expansion, a drastic trend change in annual yield increase from the present 20 to 58 kg ha

Indexed as

AgricultureCrops, AgriculturalEdible GrainFood SupplyAfrica South of the SaharaClimate ChangeHumansMilletsZea mayscereal demandclimate changecrop areafood availabilityyield potential

Identifiers

PMID40489617
PMCPMC12184333

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.