Effects of Specialisation in Primary Products for Export to Africa - Essay Example

Effects of specialisation in primary products for export to African economies For many decades, Africa has been referred to as a failed continent. Many years have passed since some of them gained independence but little has been done to reverse the economic challenges that the continent is facing. Instead, the economic status of the continent has been deteriorating due to poor policies that are aimed to steer the growth of the economy. In addition, leaders have been concentrating much on how to produce primary products an aspect that has retarded the growth of Africa. For a long time, the continent has been a source of primary products for the west countries which brand these products and return them to the continent at a higher price. This has made it hard for the African economy to grow as it spends so much money on importing finished goods some of which emanated from the continent. Many of these woes date back from the era of colonization. Majority of the countries in Africa owes their colonizers huge sum of money making them become beggars. For any projects to be successful, they must come into terms with the colonizers. Dependence on international and imperial ties by African countries has also made it impossible for countries to divert their attention to other source of revenue (Cowen 1991). In Kenya coffee has been a major export for decades. The country was one of the best producers of high quality Arabica coffee. Nevertheless, the country concentrated less on improving its quality. This was a tough issue to solve because of the adverse conditions of falling prices and high competition from other countries such as Brazil. Many of the challenges that the product had included various diseases such as coffee berry diseases which became a challenge to the farmers who only concentrated on one crop. Also, due to poor working environment labour unions were formed but played very little part in educating people on how to add value on their products (Hyde 2010, 468). Primary products production in Kenya was faced by various challenges that prevented the government from concentrating on improving the values of the commodities. Different strikes faced coffee sector with employees of different plantations demanding better pay. Poor leadership also made it impossible for the sectors mandated with ensuring that the crop competes successfully in the international market also fail in their task. Instead, they joined in the wrangles an aspect that led to poor production as farmers started uprooting the crop and started planting staple crops such as maize. This issue affected areas that were high producers of the coffee e.g. Ruiru, Thika, Makuyu, Muranga etc. This deep crisis was also felt in the global market as Kenyan coffee, which was one of the largest revenue earner for the country failed to meet the international standards giving way for countries such as Brazil to take the leading position (Hyde 2010, 483). Even after independence, the government never concentrated on reviving the sector or even diversifying its economy. Instead, it continued to depend wholly on the sector as a source of revenue. This made it hard for it to create and sustain developmental projects, which could have helped in steering the economy ahead (Cowen 1991). West African countries faced the same challenge of using primary products as the base for economic growth. Colonialists did put up measures that exposed society to corruption an aspect that retarded growth of the economies of West African countries. In Gold Coast, present day Ghana, the Britons intended to produce groundnuts in large schemes through mechanization of agriculture. They aimed at resettling peasants and modernize their farms. Failure of this projects increased cases of “corruption development projects” that were started by colonialists which up to date had hampered the country’s effort to develop their economy. Such cases led African continent into becoming a failed continent with benefits that emanated from few products produced benefiting few. After the end of colonization, farms that people were evicted from to allow for plantation and mass production of primary products were grabbed by few leaders who had political powers. These leaders left the land unutilized therefore, making the economy be retarded as it depended wholly on primary products that were retrieved from these farms. African continent was characterized by ethnicity and genocides which retarded the effort by the current leaders to spearhead the economy. According to Grischow (1998) after independence majority of Africans were illiterate and the only career that required no skills and experience was farming. Instead of the government equipping the local people with the necessary skills that could have enabled people to venture in other income generating activities, leaders concentrated much on how to retain their power. Waves of mass killings then spread from one corner of the continent to the other. This was mainly led by land ownership wrangles as people concentrated much on the few benefits that accrued from small parcel of land that they owned. Land differences also led to the formation of militia groups that agitated for their land ownership rights. These were later used by leaders for their own interests. Conflicts that were sparked by these groups affected the level of production of the primary products as farmers took refuge to neighbouring countries. This destabilization of production haunted the economy of the African continent and up-to-date the governments have not yet taken measures to diversify their economies (Grischo 1998, 142). African continent lacks the technical knowhow on how to expand their economy to match their western counterparts. This challenge dates back to colonization era. After different countries that had colonies in Africa left the continent, little was dome to educate the locals on how to use their local produce to sustain their economy. This led to decades of confusion on the appropriate measures to undertake in order for countries to benefit from the local produce. In an example from Kenya, Arabica coffee was the main source of tax revenue till 1950s when global coffee markets started to decline with an increase in output by Brazil and Colombia (Hyde 2010, p.470). This trend deteriorated with the struggle for independence by the Mau Mau which diverted the government attention to fighting this group. This made the level of production decrease tremendously an aspect that continued even after the country gained independence. Officials and bodies that were elected to head these sectors after the settlers left the country had no knowledge on how to boost production in order to meet the required international standards (Throup 1987, P.1951). Africa produce has been used by the west countries to develop their economies while leaving African economy undeveloped and struggling to sustain its population. For many decades, local production from Africa which is primary products such as coffee, tea, cotton, vegetables minerals etc have been exported to the west leaving the continent bare and struggling to sustain its local demand. Many of these products fetch very low prices in the international market as Africans do not practice value addition thereby reducing the life of these products in the market. This makes production of these products an expensive venture as local production does not meet the cost of production (Ian 2009, P.178). Government of these regions has therefore, diverted their attention to borrowing of loans from world financial institutions such as word banks. This has devoted revenue earned from primary products to payment of loans some of which date back from the colonial era. Agriculture has changed immensely especially with an increased rate of the population, which has put pressure on few acres of arable land. Sub-division of land into small pieces has made it hard for people to benefit from the produce. This has made it hard for people to concentrate on cash crops as they give the first priority to food crops in order for them to satisfy their basic needs (Swynnerton, 1954). In addition, these products mainly depend on rainfall therefore, making the economic performance of the continent be unpredictable and unfavourable for any potential investors (Young 2004, P.27). Mainly, primary crops that African countries depend on are seasonal. These crops produce during the same time leading to overproduction. “This moves the world market into a prolonged period of slump” (Hyde 2009, p.82). Prices fell drastically making the countries not to benefit from their mass production. Overdependence on these crops has therefore, led to high and low season even in economic level an aspect that creates uncertainty to investors in the continents. This case occurred in Kenya during the transitional period in 1963 when Kenya overproduced coffee in the international market an aspect that led Brazil and Colombia to release their reserves in order for them to gain profits as the prices were very low. This move led to devaluing of Kenyan economy an aspect that put thousands of acres out of production and plunging the country into deep recession. This case was accelerated by the debt that the government owed other countries especially Britain (Hyde 2009, p.82). In conclusion, the success of the African continent can only be achieved if these countries diversify their economy. This is through investing their resources to other sectors such as manufacturing and service industries. In addition, they can add the value of their primary products e.g. through branding in order for them to fetch higher returns, which would be directed towards improving of farmers’ welfare. References Cowen, M. P. 1991. Playing the Game’ in Tropical Africa. In British Imperialism, 1688-2000. Longman. Cowen, M. P. 1991. Bankers, Peasants, and Land in British West Africa, 1905-1937. Journal of Peasant Studies, 19(1), 26-58. GrischoW, J. 1998. Corruptions of development in the Countryside of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast, 1927–57. Journal of Peasant Studies, 26(1), 139-158. Hyde, D. 2009. Paying for the Emergency by Displacing the Settlers. Journal of Global History, 4, 81-103. Hyde, D. 2010. Undercurrents to independence: plantation struggles in Kenyas Central Province 1959–60. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 4(3), 467-489. Ian, S. 2009. Livelihoods perspectives and rural development. Journal of Peasant Studies, 36(1), 171-196. Swynnerton, R. J. 1954. A plan to intensify the development of African agriculture in Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: Govt. Printer. Throup, D. 1987. Problems of Kikuyu Agriculture. In Economic & social origins of Mau Mau 1945-53. J. Currey. Young, C. 2004. The end of the post-colonial state in Africa? 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