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Challenge of Africa's Food Crisis
The World Bank and the IMF, should listen to the avalanche of pleas by African statesmen (like Dr. Kenneth Kaunda) for debt reprieve for African countries caught up by the hunger-spawning cycle of debt repayment…
Vanguard (Nigeria, Lagos) Visit their site: http://www.vanguardngr.com/
September 12, 2002
PERHAPS among the critical problems that have cast a blight on millions of lives in Africa, food crisis is the most vicious. Even the mortality rate on the continent, which has reached an alarming proportion, can be attributed not only to grinding poverty, armed conflicts, natural disasters and the much-talked about AIDS pandemic, but also to the devastating effects of hunger and malnutrition.
Given the deadly momentum that is being gathered by Africa's food crisis, many international aid agencies, particularly the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), have expressed fears about a looming humanitarian tragedy in different parts of the continent. Such fears, in fact, cannot be dismissed as a wolf's cry in view of the rapidly diminishing opportunities of many countries in agricultural output in recent years.
Particularly disturbing are those of Zimbabwe and Botswana, two Southern
African nations formerly acclaimed as "Africa's food baskets".
In these countries and others across the region (except South Africa)
like Malawi, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe, a serious humanitarian nightmare
is unfolding. According to Oxfam, a British aid agency, between 13 and
14 million people are in desperate need of food aid in those countries.
In Zambia, where the situation is so grave and the government, as a result,
has declared a state of national disaster, many people, whose coping mechanism
has been exhausted, are reportedly relying on maize husks, wild roots
and fruits, grasses, reptiles (lizards, snakes) and dogs as a last resort
of nutritional survival. In the neighbouring Malawi, were about two million
people alone are facing starvation, hundreds of children were reported
to have died of hunger - related diseases. In other African countries
like Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, the inability
of their masses to afford food has assumed an unprecedented dimension.
Nevertheless, judging from Africa's endowment with arable landmass, congenial climate and cheap labour, one may be compelled to ask: Why is the continent far off from food self-sufficiency? Again, what actions could make a significant step towards heading off acute food crisis on the continent?
To answer such questions, an X-ray of the principal factors behind Africa's food dilemma is vitally important. First and foremost, the continent, whose economic mainstay is agriculture, is notorious for treacherous droughts. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, what may be tagged a "prolonged Sabellian drought" has ravaged farmlands and livestock in countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. Similar ominous developments could also be observed in Southern Africa, where countries like Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique appear to be emerging from devastating droughts that hit them in the recent years.
Apart from droughts occasioned by poor rainfall, civil instability and social unrest have also disrupted farming activities in several parts of Africa. For instance, in countries embroiled in long-running armed conflicts like Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa and Sierra Leone, much of their population has been reduced not only to skin and bones but also facing gradual, almost silent starvation.
The continent's food crisis can also be observed from the purview of exponential growth of human population. Today, many African countries are gnawed at by what may be called a "Malthusian doom", a dangerous situation whereby human population would exceed food resources. In Nigeria, Kenya and Botswana, for example, demographic experts are afraid that inexorable population growth may not be corresponding with food output.
Another factor behind Africa's food inadequacy is abject neglect of peasant farmers. Whereas these farmers who produce the large chunk of the continent's staple foods need input like high-yielding seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides and modern farming machinery for enhanced productivity, many African governments have developed interests either in food importation for the few elite in their countries or in the easy-yielding sectors like cash crops, oil and gas and mining. In this case, Nigeria is a handy example.
Contributing to the aforementioned factors in Africa's food crisis are economic reform measures that have gone awry in some African states like the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs). Alas, in countries like Nigeria, SAPs have sparked a staggering rise in prices and made it difficult for many people to afford foodstuffs in the market. Worsening matters is the economic posture of international financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which discourages agricultural subsidies in developing countries but look the other way with regard to heavy subsidisation of the agro-sector in the U.S. and some European countries.
In the light of the scale of humanitarian need in Southern Africa, as a result of famine, it is important to stress that the food crisis in Africa is not subsiding but spiralling out of control. To respond swiftly and vigorously to the crisis and reinforce food security, African governments and the donor community should spare no effort to address the factors that lie at its root.
First and foremost, much emphasis should be placed on launching a frontal attack on factors that are not agro-friendly in African countries should be tackled through irrigation systems and strict enforcement of the culture of afforestation.
Secondly, as a panacea for the recurring food shortage on the continent, an enduring means of bolstering up food production should be evolved. In respect of this, laudable agricultural schemes like "Operation Feed the Nation", once operated in Nigeria in the mid-1970s, should be revamped and pursued with diligence and vigour by African states. The private sector should also be co-opted in agriculture on the continent through long-term financing of the agro-sector. New technologies (through research and extension and biotechnology) should, equally, be exploited for improved farm yields. This should be complemented by investment in rural infrastructure and adequate provision of loans and credits to genuine peasant farmers.
Thirdly, those at the top echelon of power and decision-making in Africa should be aware that some of their policies have caused hunger and malnutrition. Thus, as regards African governments and their advisers in general, they should humanise their shock therapy economic policies like SAPs with a relief package with a view to easing the difficulties of their people who are longing for a living space.
Fourthly, considering that those African countries bedevilled by political turmoil and social unrest are theatres of hunger and starvation, the so-called war lords and their militias in Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo DR, Liberia and other countries on the continent should, with a sense of shock and remorse, appreciate their visible inhumanity. Expectedly, they should take a quick recourse to negotiated settlement given the tangible benefits of peace and for the sake of their people who are weighed down by hunger, privation and medieval savagery visited upon them by violence and lawlessness.
Lastly, the developed world of Europe and North America, nay the donor community, should be broadly supportive in the much-needed efforts to reverse Africa's chronic food insecurity. Of course, they ought to pander to the spirit of international sympathy and solidarity by lending African countries the urgently needed finance, expertise and technology, not mainly food aid, for increased food production. Such face of mercy should also be shown by the Bretton Woods institutions of the World Bank and the IMF, by listening to avalanche of pleas by African statesmen (like Dr. Kenneth Kaunda) and charity societies for debt reprieve for African countries caught up by the hunger-spawning cycle of debt repayment.
Indeed, helping African to step back from the brink of starvation is
a great humanitarian challenge of our time. This is because at this austere
period the continent is facing the crisis of shortage, regions like Europe
and North America are undergoing the crisis of abundance. Also, at a painful
time millions of people in Africa are gnashing their teeth because of
hunger and malnourishment, tons of surplus foods are being generated in
rich national societies of the West. All these, of course, call for an
urgent redress in a world that is increasingly becoming interdependent.
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