One of the largest ecological and development projects on a global scale that is gradually being created is the project of the Great Green Wall of Sahara Desert. The African Union (consisting of 55 African states) is curated by this huge project which takes place south of the Sahara Desert. According to this project these countries will plant a total of 200mln trees resistant to drought e.g. Acacia, and along 6000km on the African continent.
by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis-https://www.liberalglobe.com
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The project of the Great Green Wall of the Sahara desert and the benefits it creates
This tree-planting land is a steppe strip of land south of the Sahara Desert known as the Sahel and starts from the African shores of the Red Sea and reaches the African shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
The project started in 2007 and so far, they have planted about 30m trees, i.e. 15% of the total project has been achieved. The success of the project so far is that in the regions of the countries that have planted these trees (e.g. Nigeria, Ethiopia, etc.) the reversal of the microclimate has restored the most underprivileged areas of these countries.
Moreover, in the landscape that takes place the planting of trees is constructed many underground water wells with potable water and rural areas that cultivate additional food items. The maintenance of all these trees creates new jobs for the inhabitants of nearby villages.
Within this framework of implementation, this project will give development impetus to these African countries and will become an example of ecological and environmental sensitivity to be emulated for the rest of the countries of the world.
Already the Australian government in February 2019 announced that it intends to plant a billion trees by 2050 to help the country achieve the climate targets it has undertaken based on the Paris Agreement on climatic Change (2016).
In addition to the environmental benefits in this case, new jobs are being created for the preservation of trees in the forestry sector, which contributes more than 23billion Australian dollars (14.5 billion euros) to the Australian budget.
Photo by Author: NASA, licensed Public Domain,
Source: Cropped from Image: Africa_satellite_plane.jpg,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain
The great opportunity for a new rural reform in African countries
But the case of the project of the Great Green wall of Sahara gives an excellent opportunity to the governments of the African states from where the project will pass. All these African states should follow a new common agricultural reform policy.
More specifically, the governments of these states should have the doctrine that the land should belong to the one who cultivates it. In this context, they should:
1. To rip out the “bad” trees and where this is possible in order to create new cultivate lands in the total of their country.
2. Then, having all the available land to be cultivated would advance in agricultural reform in which to redistribute the land to new owners.
The government of each African state will buy the surplus land of the hitherto landowners or farmers-owners of land which surplus ownership of them on land to exceed more than three irrigated hectares or six unirrigated hectares in one fixed price which will be equal to 2 times the value of their annual harvest times 10 (the number for 10 years period)..
The repayment of the state to these landowners should be made immediately and will be able to take the form in 1/3 in money-cash, in 1/3 in bonds of current products and in 1/3 in shares of public companies. If the state treasury does not have the necessary funds, then 1/3 in bonds of current products will become 2/3.
3. Then this whole land along with all the new cultivated lands throughout the territory will be attributed to families who will want to cultivate it.
4. The government of any one of these African countries will then have to distribute to every farmer or family member 1 hectare of land or 10 acres of land. The state must never rent or grant the land free of charge for a period to the farmer.
The farmer will have to acquire-purchase the land at a very low price which should begin to be repaid after three years of continuous harvesting while the repayment will take place at a horizon of fifteen years.
The farmer has motive to work hard on his land when it is his property and only. In other words, when the farmer is the 100% owner of the land himself. If he rents it or has granted it for free for a period, then the farmer has no incentive to produce the maximum, but he will prefer to produce only that it is enough for him to live.
5. Then the government of each state should draw up a study defining which harvests should be used to be able to cover in terms of feeding the entire population of each of these countries.
In addition, a national crop portfolio should be drawn up for the whole country and it should be indicated by a percentage size of each type of crop produced and in which part of the country. The products for cultivation to be selected should be more than six to differentiate the agricultural exports of the country.
6. The government of each country will then have to guarantee each African farmer a high market price for his harvest. By this method will maintain a national production while the farmer can live his family and study his children. Without a market price that leaves a relatively high profit margin for the farmer, any workable agricultural reform is doomed to failure.
7. Because every farmer should be focused on his tasks in order to succeed, then the government of each country will have to oblige owners’ farmers-growers to join local farmers’ associations. Each association should consist of 400 members. This association of farmers’ owners should elect its board of directors and its president.
The president in co-operation with the board of directors should recruit a full-time manager from the private sector alone (it should not be a state official or a former civil servant for corruption purposes). The manager of this each association will manage the issues of irrigation and maintenance of irrigation canals and/or rainwater collectors, trade and everything that has to do with the credits.
This type of policy regarding the agricultural reform applied will also be the basis of self-sufficiency for feeding the country’s population but will also allow the surplus harvest to be promoted in export activities.
The success of rural reform will also be the steppingstone for the industrialization of the African countries concerned, enabling them to escape the hunger framework and develop without external assistance from the developed countries.
The project of the Great Green Wall of the Sahara when it is completed will be the basis for the development of the tourism industry in all these countries.
Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis
