A Theoretical Framework for Integrated Agro-Ecosystem Engineering Under Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Nigeria

This study develops an original theoretical framework for integrated agro-ecosystem engineering under climate change conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa, using Nigeria as the primary empirical context. Existing agricultural engineering frameworks treat individual engineering systems, such as irrigation, drainage, storage, and processing, as largely independent design problems. Under climate change, these systems interact through complex biophysical feedbacks that require an integrated systems approach to optimise agricultural performance and resilience at landscape scale. This study proposes an Integrated Agro-Ecosystem Engineering Framework that treats the agricultural landscape as a coupled human-engineering-natural system, applying systems dynamics modelling, resilience theory, and multi-scale engineering design principles. The framework incorporates four interacting engineering subsystems: water management (irrigation, drainage, rainwater harvesting), soil management (tillage, conservation), energy systems (solar, biomass, biogas), and post-harvest systems (storage, processing, cold chain). Empirical grounding uses a 15-year longitudinal dataset from three agro-ecosystem monitoring sites in Kano, Benue, and Rivers States, capturing engineering system performance under observed climate variability. Agent-based modelling simulates how farmer technology adoption decisions interact with landscape-scale engineering performance. Findings demonstrate that integrated engineering interventions that address multiple system components simultaneously achieve resilience outcomes 2.4 times superior to equivalent investment in single-component interventions. Non-linear threshold effects are identified in water-soil-energy system interactions. The study contributes an original conceptual and mathematical framework for integrated agro-ecosystem engineering design and recommends its adoption in Nigeria's agricultural infrastructure planning methodology.

Keywords: agro-ecosystem engineering, integrated framework, climate change, Sub-Saharan Africa, systems modelling.