Tiny creatures and their inspiring way of life

On March 17, 2024, while relaxing in front of my backyard vegetable garden after successful completion of the food systems e-course, I witnessed an incredible scene – thousands of red ants working together to collect and transport breadcrumbs. I was fascinated and took this picture.

It’s amazing how ants survive harsh times of food inadequacy. I read somewhere that ants are highly adaptable insects; they can modify their social structure in response to changes in resource availability, they seek out new food sources when a critical resource is limited and they change their foraging habits and exploit other food sources. In some unique situations, ants can even evacuate and survive in harsh conditions by using alternative food sources and receiving additional workers from other nests. This remarkable adaptability and resilience could inspire humans to transform agri-food systems in the face of climate change and other challenges.

In February 2024, my country Zambia, declared a national disaster due to the drought caused by El Nino. This devastated the agriculture in my country. Our food system relies heavily on maize, which is the main national staple cereal. Our dependency on a single rainfed crop, coupled with low investment in farm mechanization and irrigation facilities, has led to poor yields, particularly among smallholder farmers. This situation in itself is a driver for food system transformation.

As a researcher in general entomology, my primary role is to generate appropriate insect pest management technologies for improved crop production. Climate stress is known to create new ecological niches that potentially affect insect pest biology in several ways. It can cause increased risk of invasive insect species and alterations in their interactions with host plants and natural enemies. Responding to changes in climatic patterns such as El Nino, requires adaptive strategies. These include, modified integrated pest management tactics, monitoring climate and pest populations, and the use of modelling prediction tools. Developing and/or promoting these strategies is just part of my job.

However, another part of my job at ZARI is to help develop pathways to food system transformation with respect to pest management. Thanks to the food system e-course, I have gained additional insights on the role of science. One of the pathways is the promotion of climate-smart agricultural practices. The climate and pest risk can be reduced by crop diversification, using climate-resilient crops – such as sorghum, millets, cassava, beans, and cowpeas. The additional benefit is that these crops contribute to a more diverse diet.

We must transform our food system to address the many challenges. Just like the tiny ants we need to adapt and increase our resilience. The situation in my country calls for agricultural diversification, incentives for rural investment in irrigation and farm mechanization, and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices to build a resilient agri-food system in the country. This requires an integration of technologies, policies, institutions, and consumption behavior.