Bananas facing a bleak future as staple African crops decline

Bananas, maize and beans could be among crops consigned to history in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with drastic consequences for people who reply on beans as a vital source of protein

Climate change will leave swaths of sub-Saharan Africa unable to produce staple crops such as maize, bananas and beans by the end of the century, according to a report that calls for an urgent transformation of the region's agriculture.

The study, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), says that rising temperatures and droughts will force "significant areas" to find alternative crops, improve irrigation systems or even abandon crop-based agriculture completely by the year 2100.