African Cultivators - Essay Example

African Cultivators Majority of Africans live in the rural areas and rely on agriculture either fully or in part for survival. Unfortunately, agriculture in Africa is faced with several challenges, this essay highlights some of these challenges, and the efforts that have been made to remedy the situation. Effects of policies and changing development paradigms together with the unintended consequences of development interventions are also discussed. Furthermore, the particular issues that investors and policy makers would be encouraged to pay attention to are also presented. African cultivators face the challenge of adverse and unpredictable weather conditions that make planning difficult since they cannot be able to determine with accuracy the weather patterns. This leads to low output and farmers incur losses since the expenses incurred in the process of farming are higher than the returns. In early 1980s many African countries experienced abnormal food shortages and quite a good number of them were experiencing drought (Schroeder 44). Farmers incurred losses and they were left without a means for livelihood necessitating governments to import food while others needed emergency food aid. Weather patterns of this kind usually disorient farmers and demoralize them, which affect their subsequent investments in farming as seen in the years that followed the drought period. Many farmers withdrew from fully engaging in cultivation out of fear that they will incur losses hence negatively affecting the output realized from farming (Kumar & Motha 39). The use of irrigation in Africa for a long time has been minimal and not fully developed since most of the cultivators engage in subsistent farming which usually utilizes the traditional methods. This is despite the fact that irrigation in most of the countries like Gambia was introduced in the 1940s when most of the countries were being colonized. The irrigation has only remained mostly in fields owned by government or private organizations but individual farmers have not fully embraced it (Ukaga, Okechukwu &Afoaku 197). The use of fertilizers and other modern means of farming have also not been popular among the farmers probably because of the extreme levels of poverty. Furthermore, most of the crops grown by many farmers are food crops and only a few people engage in cash crop farming. For example in Gambia it was until in the 1980s that cash crop farming and horticultural production was introduced (Schroeder 52). This has made the produce to remain low to the extent that most of these countries cannot feed themselves and they have to rely on imports to sustain their people. Imports drain many resources which could have been used to develop farming consequently increasing the output. The division of labor in most of the communities does not favor farming since many of the farming roles are allocated women and the men tend to shy from subsistent farming. The women are expected to till the land and the harvest they get is for the family since most of the men do not expect the women to engage in any form of business. The few women who engage in farming for business face enormous challenges in marketing and they end up not receiving a lot from their efforts (Black gold). This hinders the development of the sector since the women are limited in production and lack the business perspective in farming. Furthermore, since a lot of the farming process is manual the men rather than the women are better placed to engage fully in cultivation to provide for their families and to engage in trade. There has been little involvement of government, private investors and other international organizations in rural development projects. This has been contributed mainly by the policies formulated, which for long time have been favoring developments in urban places and hence neglecting the rustic areas. The rural areas have also been viewed as unproductive and not capable of injecting significantly to the agricultural sector probably because of lack of innovative minds, which are capable of harnessing the resources in the pastoral areas. The remote places which have untapped resources have therefore continued to lack most of the basic infrastructure such as electricity, good transport and communication network. This has made them to be unfavorable for investors since there is no investor who can be willing to invest in such kind of conditions. The policy makers should thus formulate laws and policies that will ensure that the rural areas develop in considerably equal proportions with the urban areas. Ethnic conflicts coupled with insecurity have undermined rural developments projects in most of the African Countries. Many of the inhabitants of the georgic areas have engaged in wars with their neighboring communities at one time because of grazing fields, watering areas and other minor factors. These conflicts have usually left many people dead and others injured with a lot of destruction of property hence undermining the various development ventures. Security has also been poor in most of these places mainly because of lack of enough police force in the vicinity. This has made the sites unattractive for investors since there are only few investors who can be willing to take the risk of investing in a place experiencing insecurity. The involved governments have the responsibility of ensuring that there is enough security in all places within their territories. In case this is put in place investors will be willing to channel their resources to these areas and consequently lead to their improvement (Sims 198). Effort has been made to remedy the above challenges that have been experienced by African cultivators. The governments and private investors have started channeling funds towards development of irrigation schemes to curb the problem of unpredictable weather patterns. This has seen establishment of various irrigation projects in rural areas that have led to improvement in food production and have contributed to some countries starting to be independent as far as food production is concerned. The farmers are also being encouraged to start their own small-scale irrigations so as to be able to sustain themselves regardless of the weather conditions. This has been done through education forums where they are enlightened on the ways they can use the locally available resources for irrigation purposes. There has also been a lot of emphasis on growing drought resistant crops, which are able to withstand the harsh climatic conditions as opposed to the crops that do not do well in unfavorable conditions. There has been good reception for the idea and many farmers are now opting to plant these crops that do not require a lot of rainfall. Farmers have been encouraged to shift from using traditional methods of farming to modern means, which are effective in terms of the output. Some of these modern means is the use of fertilizers in farming instead of the traditional manure that has been popular among the Africans for a long time. Fertilizers are capable of increasing the output by a great percentage and the African governments have realized this fact and are now subsidizing the fertilizers to make them affordable. The farmers are also being encouraged to embrace crop rotation in farming so as to improve the output realized as opposed to growing the same crop in a given piece of land consecutively. Different crops require different nutrients and thus when crop rotation is embraced, better output is guaranteed (Zeleza 28). Changing development paradigms and policies have affected development both positively and negatively. For example, the garden boom in Gambia in its early stages received a lot of support from voluntary organizations and other donor agencies that ensured smooth running of the project. However, in the late 1990s the development paradigm shifted and most of the voluntary organizations started funding other projects that were competing to the initial ones. Notably most of these organizations started funding environment related projects that were mainly controlled by men as opposed to the garden projects that were under the control of the women. This kind of development paradigm change was mainly due to change in ideologies and it negatively affected the progress of the projects that had already been initiated (Schroeder 33). The change in paradigm to fully involve the women in development projects has been advantageous and the needs of the women have been well catered. Social structure, hierarchical gender relations and the condition of women were reviewed making them improve their social position and material position in terms of access to education, credit, technology and other services. This prototype has then persisted and has seen many of the world’s largest Multinational organizations like the World Bank embrace these policies that favor women in their programs. The popularity of the pattern has mainly stemmed from the notion that women have an inherent inner drive that makes them to bear difficult conditions and be willing to sacrifice. This has also been because of the belief that all women regardless of their tribe, race, social class, and nation devote considerably a large proportion of their resources towards the support of their families. Due to this notion, many organizations have continued to fund projects that empower the women in order to have an influence to the entire society indirectly. Development interventions led to several unintended consequences that in one way or another led to confusion since there was a mix-up on the agenda of such interventions. For example due to the enormous amount of money that was being channeled to African nations, the continent started being viewed as a needy place where nothing good can come out. This was because at this time almost all other nations were developing but Africa was being exposed as a continent of greatest need. This has led to many people up to today viewing it as poor continent in need of help in all spheres and not able to produce anything good. Though some developing countries in this region need financial help in some areas just like any other developing nation, the notion of them not being able to produce anything good is absurd and invalid. Africa has a lot of untapped resources and scenic environments that are a tourist destination coupled with the deep rich in wildlife. The people are friendly, social and welcoming and any person who loves to visit people cannot fail to notice them. The gender intervening policies that sought to bring equality between men and women led to unintended consequences where women started being viewed as disobedient to their husbands. This was because after the empowerment projects had been put in place, the women spent most of their time in such projects as opposed to previously when they used to spend most of the time with their families. It was out of this that the men branded them as being disobedient and referred to the farms as their second husbands. Because of the misunderstanding, many African men continue to oppose any venture that seeks to empower the women out of fear that they will become disobedient to them. This has undermined to a greater extent policies that seek to fully involve the women in development activities within their communities ( Diao 34). I urge policy makers and investors to pay attention to empowering the African cultivators to be more productive. They need to have in mind the rural dwellers when formulating all forms of policies in order to ensure that they are not left out in any form of development activity. This can be achieved by ensuring that they are well represented in all organizations and it can only be possible if the policies are formulated in such a way that a certain percentage of workers come from the marginalized communities. The laws can also give a priority to this kind of people since they are disadvantaged and it is thus not fair to place them in the same threshold with rest. The policy makers from the developed countries need to push for policies that will ensure the farmers get adequate funding in form of donations and development aids. The laws that disadvantage developing countries in or when dealing with international organizations such as World Bank should be streamlined to ensure there is equity. The existing international laws mainly favor the developed states and this has led to the developing nations not to fully engage in international activities. This is because they shy off since they do not see the essence of them participating if they are not recognized. There is therefore need to ensure there is equity and transparency in all policies so that the countries with small economies can adequately engage in the respective activities. The above can only be achieved if the lawmakers amend the laws to get rid of the flaws and to encourage all countries to involve themselves. The benefits of these countries being involved in all world matters will trickle down to the farmers who in turn will ensure that there is sustainable food production consequently solving the problem. Development practitioners need to be aware of the many investment opportunities that exist in Africa and consequently consider them for investment. There are many unutilized natural resources in these countries because of lack of adequate financial resources by the local investors to venture into them. For example, there are lots of minerals that lay idle underneath the soil that are able to generate a lot of money if they are explored and therefore there is need for investors to venture into these fields. There is also the existence of cheap and readily available labor force that will ensure the production expenses are minimized; hence, the investing firms will be in a better position to make huge profits. The respective governments in the regions where the resources are found provide favorable conditions for investment such as tax holidays and freedom to repatriate the earnings to home country. Investors should thus take advantage of these opportunities and utilize them for their betterment and for improvement of the welfare of the local residents. In conclusion, it is evident that African cultivators for a long time have faced many challenges and despite the efforts that have been made to solve these problems, there is still need for more efforts. Investors need to channel more funds to the cultivators since there are many promising investment ventures that guarantee good returns. Policy makers need to play their role effectively to ensure there is equitable distribution of resources across all regions of the world. They need to pay close attention to the issues discussed in order to understand well the various opportunities that exist. If all these recommendations are put in place, the problems of the African farmers will be solved and there will be sustainable food production. Work Cited Black gold. Dir. Nirc & Marc. United Kingdom, 2006.film Diao, Xinshen. The Role of Agriculture in Development: Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, D.C: International Food Policy Research Institute, 2007. Internet resource. Schroeder, Richard A. Shady Practices: Agroforestry and Gender Politics in the Gambia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Internet resource Sims, Brian G. Addressing the Challenges Facing Agricultural Mechanization Input Supply and Farm Product Processing: Proceedings of an Fao Workshop Held at the Cigr World Congress on Agricultural Engineering. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2007. Print. Siva, Kumar M. V. K, and Raymond P. Motha. Managing Weather and Climate Risks in Agriculture. Berlin: Springer, 2007. Internet resource. Ukaga, Okechukwu, and Osita G. Afoaku. Sustainable Development in Africa: A Multifaceted Challenge. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2005. Print. Zeleza, Paul T. A Modern Economic History of Africa: Vol. 1. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers in association with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, 1997. Print. Read More