{"id":1324,"date":"2019-10-10T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T11:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2019-10-10T14:12:14","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T11:12:14","slug":"africas-agricultural-revolution-is-lagging-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=1324","title":{"rendered":"Africa’s Agricultural Revolution is lagging behind"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Earth’s population rises, the phenomenon of climate change has\ndeteriorated due to the overconsumption of goods and mainly consumer products\nfrom industrial and technologically advanced countries. Developed and emerging economies have been reinforcing\ntheir annual overall production and productivity rather than the\u03b9\u03c1 occasional declining fluctuations in GDP and economic\nactivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the effects on the environment (soil, sea, air) and the \u03b5arth’s climate are deteriorating. The overpopulation of the earth needs\nmore and more basic nutritional goods and products to be consumed. The\nagricultural sector in most countries and continents of the planet is the\nfeeder of this consumption and nourishment of the world’s population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only countries and generally the only continent that exhibits low\nagricultural productivity compared to the rest of the continents are the\nAfrican countries and Africa in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is prohibited by intellectual property law or in any\nway illegal use of this article, with heavy civil and criminal penalties for\nthe offender.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for the delay of the African Green<\/strong> Revolution<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Women and children peak green beans in Ethiopia<\/strong>
Photo by USAID Africa Bureau
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Public_domain<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This finding has nothing to do with the African farmers themselves and their undeniable hard work, but mainly with the fact that Africans farmers cannot afford to obtain fertilizers, and in particular they cannot obtain strong resistant to cultivation of seeds that protect their crops from diseases, drought and more generally from extreme environmental phenomena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only with these new types of resistant seeds in their possession are\nAfricans farmers able to multiply the size of their crops independently of the\ndiseases and weather and environmental conditions that can affect their\nproduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key element, in addition to all others such as applying modern ways of\ncultivation, is the super-resistant seeds used in modern agricultural cultivation.\nIt is a common activity that Africans growers retain seeds from their previous\nproduction to use in the cultivation of the next season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the real revolution in the size of their agricultural production will\nbe achieved when most African farmers use their hybrid seeds crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The low current levels of agricultural production in African countries<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the end of the Second World War (1939-1945) and in the 1960 the Green\nRevolution appeared with large quantities of agricultural production and after\nscientists first delivered to farmers resilient varieties of maize, wheat and\nrice created in laboratories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, the Green Revolution was first achieved with the cultivation\nof the hybrid maize, then with the high-performance “semi-dwarf\nwheat”, and then with the high performance \u00abshort statured rice”\ncultivars and later with the cultivation of sorghum and alfalfa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this and only fact the agricultural production was launched both in\nAsia and in Latin America, thus making farmers economically self-sufficient and\nthe populations able to solve the problem of hunger and starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, however, even today the Green Revolution has not reached\nAfrica and it does not allow both African farmers and their countries to\nmultiply their production and reach production levels that had reached the\ndecade of 1960 Asia and Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figure 1 shows the production in thousands of tons per year in wheat and in two other basic agricultural products highly necessary for the nourishment of the population such as rice (Figure 2) and other coarse  grains  (Figure 3) by examining the period 2010-2018 (Data source: OECD-FAO). In these Figures we observe comparing the production of the World’s most developed economy USA, with the EU, China and the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 1: Wheat production, Data Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Figure 2: Rice production, Data Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Figure 3: Coarse Grains production, Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong>
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We are seeing from the above that the Sub-Saharan African countries such as\nKenya, Uganda, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria etc. that only in the rice\nproduction outweigh the US and the EU and since these two countries (US and EU)\nuse the rice as a key import product from China in order to export their other\nproducts to China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the production of wheat and other coarse grains the Sub-Saharan African\ncountries have very little production from the other countries concerned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for low level of agricultural production on the African\ncontinent<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, the hybrid seeds are very expensive to obtain from most African\nfarmers when they are very difficult to obtain from the poorest African states\nof countries such as Chad, Uganda etc. On the other hand, Kenya can use hybrid\nseeds but fails to increase its production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, due to the different and extreme environmental conditions that\nvary from region to region even within the same country, there should be\nspecialized hybrid seeds per crop that consider both the arable land and\nclimatic conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, it has been found that high-yielding seeds in several African\ncountries do not always perform and this is mainly due to moving many batches\nof fake hybrid seeds in the markets of African countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Graphs below we can observe the total yield of the land measured in tons per hectare of arable land in the basic agricultural products such as wheat, maize, rice and other coarse  grains  in the aforementioned countries (USA, EU, China) and the African continent as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Graph 1: Wheat Yield tons per hectare, Data Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Graph 2: Maize Yield tons per hectare, Data Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Graph 3: Rice Yield tons per hectare, Data Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Graph 4: Coarse Grains Yield tons per hectare, Dat Source: OECD-FAO<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, we observe in above Graphs 1, 2, 3, 4 that yields-production of crops\nper hectare of land for both wheat but mainly for maize, rice and coarse grains\non the African continent fall largely short from other countries. This is\nmainly due to the non-usability of modern hybrid seeds by most African farmers\nin their crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, however, we can also see the potential of agricultural\nproduction in Africa if these modern hybrid seeds are used in their crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solutions for African farmers and African countries<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn, however, an African farmer to distinguish and understand whether\nthe cultivated seeds he buys are hybrid seeds or not and for which the\nappropriate seeds are for the area in which he cultivates he will need\neducation, training but most importantly, he will need the state of his country\nto direct him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fact that many African states do not have the resources to buy such\nseeds in order to create a domestic modern seeds market demonstrates that other\nstrategies should be implemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, the African Union should act and agree on uniform structures and institutions that allow a huge market for rural cultivation to be created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/strong> The aim should be to avoid monopoly situations in the entire African hybrid seeds market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/strong> The African Union should create a joint fund that will finance the entire hybrid seeds market. Each African state will contribute according to its GDP to this fund and the size of the contribution will be as stable (e.g. 1.5% of annual GDP) for all the states of the Union.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.<\/strong> They should be given low-interest rates\/subsidized interest rate loans to the farmers to buy hybrid seeds and fertilizers in order to choose the crop they want to cultivate. The repayment of the loan should commence after three years and have a minimum of twelve years repayment period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.<\/strong> For every arable land in Africa, an agronomic study should show what potential the arable land has and what are the best and most efficient types of crops per arable land, facilitating the farmer to make his own choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.<\/strong> It should be agreed a common for all time frame for seed sale approval throughout Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.<\/strong> Improvement of the process of time approval for the sale of seeds with this time to reach twelve months maximum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.<\/strong> The governments of African countries should not buy seeds and then distribute them to their farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.<\/strong> Full liberalisation of the seed market by allowing genetically modified crops, and since they have been used in other countries such as USA, China etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this way a common rural African market with the dynamics of its 1billion\npeople-citizens will attract all the companies of the world in the agricultural\nsector by creating this free market all the conditions of competition that will\nkeep the prices to the hybrid seeds at low levels.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Earth’s population rises, the phenomenon of climate change has deteriorated due to the overconsumption of goods and mainly consumer products from industrial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[835,3],"tags":[1133,939,1134,1138,1139,1140,1136,1137,98,1135],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-geopolitical","category-geopolitical","tag-africa","tag-african-union","tag-agricultural-revolution","tag-coarse-grains","tag-green-revolution","tag-hybrid-seeds","tag-maize","tag-rice","tag-sub-saharian-african-countries","tag-wheat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1338,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions\/1338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}