Focus region Namibia/Zambia

Namibia and Zambia as lower-middle to upper-middle income economies in the subtropics depend on natural resources. Their economic focus lies on enhancing mining industry, trade, and expanding the tourism sector.

Both countries are threatened by desertification and intensified extreme events including droughts and floods. The social inequality between rural and urban populations is high and a large fraction in the countryside still lacks access to electricity and proper health services.

In Namibia, land use conditions include poor sandy soils, low precipitation, and widespread subsistence farming with low yields and inadequate protein supply. Nitrogen-fixing legumes are a promising adaptation strategy for rural smallholders who lack access to fertilizers. Process-orientated experiments with inoculation of legumes with specialized rhizobia showed that soil water-scarcity reduces the nodule development, thus limiting Nitrogen-fixation, and acts as the major driver for plant effects on soil conditions.

To estimate regional protein supply capacities of improved legumes, we developed and applied a spatially resolved agricultural sector model for Namibia. Biogeophysical simulations under alternative crop management and climate regimes quantify tradeoffs between food supply, land, and water scarcity.