Crisis of African Agriculture Essay - 2005 Words

Introduction The continent of Africa is home to over seven hundred million people. About half of these people do not get enough food to eat, partly due to low productivity on the farms, poor distribution networks and very little money for farmers to invest in improving their situations. This all contributes to the agricultural crisis going on in Africa. Poverty stricken farmers often cannot produce enough surplus to feed and provide for their families. African farmers have survived for thousands of years, living in harmony with their environment, developing agricultural systems that work for their subsistence economy. With the coming of globalization and greater populations, and the shift to more of a cash-based economy, many farmers†¦show more content†¦Africa can have the chance to do the same if it can successfully implement a Green Revolution of its own. Resource: If African countries were able to adopt and adapt some of the same practices used in Asia and Latin America, much more food would be available for consumption and sale by African people. ?Africa?s Fertilizer Summit was called to study ways of creating a agricultural breakthrough in Africa - a goal that Annan said was achievable despite environmental degradation, extreme reliance on rainfall rather than irrigation, high transport costs and undercapitalized farmers facing tough global tariff barriers. Participants of the conference said the problems could be overcome, but only if Africa gets help from the developed world.? (Annan p.1). Food aid provides much needed help for Africa?s people, however, it should not be thought of as sustainable way of feeding people in need. A country should use food aid to address emergency situations only and develop it?s own way to sustain food security for everyday feeding, through the country?s own internal resources. Economic: A huge proportion of African farmers are only at a subsistence level. If productivity doubled, it would greatly help in developing a marketable surplus, thereby generating more cash flow within the rural economies of Africa. As seen in figure 1, Africa?s productivity has remained stagnant andShow MoreRelatedAnalysis : President Olusegun Obasanjo1248 Words   |  5 Pagesyear, thousands of young Africans join an exodus from their families’ small, often struggling farms in the countryside...But ultimately we need people. Specifically, we need Africa’s best and brightest to embrace agriculture as a calling and a career† (Obasanjo, 2016). This quote brings out the context and reason of writing of President Obasanjo. H.E. President Olusegun Obasanjo, as an author, shows the ethos (credibility) because he was a former president of Nigeria, an African country. 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