Many African farmers walk a thin line between poverty and prosperity every day, and climate change is threatening to make it even tougher, says Tim McDonnell, Fulbright-National Geographic storytelling fellow, who recently embarked on a nine-month journey to explore the relationship between agriculture, hunger, and climate in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.

East Africa is roughly 1.5 degrees F warmer now than it was in the 1980s. And rainfall has dropped by 15 percent since then, according to climatologist Bradfield Lyon of the University of Maine. McDonnell reports that climate change could drive down yields of staples like rice, wheat, and maize by about 20 percent by 2050, while population in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to double by then. Also, drought