Journal Article
Beyond Climate Change: The Role of Integrated Soil Fertility Management for Sustaining Future Maize Yield in Sub‐Saharan Africa
Antoine Couëdel; Gatien N. Falconnier; Myriam Adam; Rémi Cardinael; Johan Six; Moritz Laub; Alex C. Ruane; Kenneth Boote; Eric Justes; Ward N. Smith; Anthony M. Whitbread; François Affholder; Folorunso M. Akinseye; Juraj Balkovic; Bruno Basso; Arti Bhatia; Bidisha Chakrabarti; Regis Chikowo; Mathias Christina; Babacar Faye; Fabien Ferchaud; Christian Folberth; Thomas Gaiser; Marcelo Galdos; Sebastian Gayler; Aram Gorooei; Brian Grant; Hervé Guibert; Gerrit Hoogenboom; Bahareh Kamali; Fidel Maureira; Fasil Mequanint; Claas Nendel; Cheryl H. Porter; Dominique Ripoche; Leonard Rusinamhodzi; Shikha Sharma; Upendra Singh; Amit Srivastava; Bernard Vanlauwe; Antoine Versini; Murilo Vianna; Heidi Webber; Tobias Weber; Congmu Zhang; Marc Corbeels
Global Change Biology · Vol. 32, Issue 2 · 2026
Abstract
Climate change is projected to exacerbate food insecurity in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) by reducing crop yields and soil fertility. Many climate change impact studies in SSA have overlooked long‐term effects of soil fertility on crop yield. We evaluated maize yields under different scenarios of soil fertility (using soil organic carbon as a proxy) and climate change (considering changes in temperature, rainfall, and CO 2 ) at four sites in SSA. Using an ensemble of 15 calibrated soil‐crop models, we found a strong consensus that, without fertilization, soil fertility declines over time, impacting maize yields more strongly than changes in temperature, rainfall, or CO 2 . The model ensemble indicated that when accounting for soil fertility changes, the yield benefits of combined application of organic and mineral inputs increase over time, even under climate change. These findings highlight the importance of considering long‐term change in soil fertility when assessing impacts of climate change and integrated nutrient management on crop production in SSA.