Taken together, our study suggests that abiotic environmental gradients shape parasite adaptation to cultivated host communities across continental Africa. Our results indicate that parasites specialize on abundant hosts in environments that strongly distinguish hosts in multivariate niche space or generalize where diverse hosts are available. If underlying abiotic drivers can predict host specialization, one promising application is the potential to inform management efforts. For example, if pearl millet production increases in the Guinean region of West Africa (Fig. S5), shifting patterns in host cultivation could provide a ‘window of opportunity’ for intensive management before parasite populations become locally adapted to host species or genotypes new to a region. Complete prevention of parasite reproduction on new hosts, through hand-weeding or other means, would be critical to take advantage of any ‘lag’ in population dynamics. The modeling framework developed here could be further extended to tailor management strategies for S. hermonthica and other parasites under shifting abiotic gradients linked to climate change.