Famine in Africa

The UN reports on World Hunger reveals that more than fifty percent of the African people do not have enough to eat within 15 years; this is found to be resulting to famine in many parts of the continent research indicates that a vast majority of the Africans who are poor make their living off agriculture. Hence, failure in this sector also suggests that 50 percent of the people who live with hunger in Africa are the same small – scale farmers.

(Frances, 33-40) This case of famine in Africa is believed to come up as a result of lack of knowledge on the agricultural practices that lead to the distortion of the fertile lands thus making them unproductive, we also find that these farmers use poor agricultural technology in their daily farming activities that makes their lands to be unproductive. In this case we find that it is after all government’s responsibility to improve upon its agricultural production meeting market needs by assisting its farmers with latest techniques and knowledge on new variety crops.

Even if we agree for a while that many African countries cannot afford the latest technologies (Alex 19-43) Poverty is also another factor leading to famine in Africa, ironically, the larger retailers in African countries who are involved in the selling of the agricultural goods exploit these growers by buying their goods, like coffee, cocoa and sugar, at world low prices and then selling the same goods at international markets at highly marked – up prices. The unequal ratio between the production cost and selling cost forces the small – scale farmers in developing countries to borrow money from the local lenders.

(Frederick, 9-15) These lenders decide their own interest rates which unfortunately keeps the farmers in perpetual poverty. There is no supervisory authority that can help these farmers get a fair share for their produce. Caught between the vicious lenders and retailers, these farmers are constantly facing a blow which makes them face the famine crisis. (Kenneth, 17-27) Research indicates that the African governments do little in bailing out these ill – fate stricken farmers. The borrowing chain does end with the farmers.

This trend continues even with the government who borrows money from international bodies to finance their development through several development projects. The supervisory authorities spend little time in monitoring the international capital inflows. These authorities also do not collect information on external borrowing by private corporations in their respective countries and in turn to use this information for managing their domestic policies. (Williams, 2006) Conclusion Food availability, food access, and asset creation are virtues of a responsible government for which we cannot hold world systems alone accountable.

A good government is one that ensures a proper and organized lending to its farmers helping them to cope with international prices through establishing local banks with reasonable interest rates. This is just one of the many solutions a government can adopt to encompass failures in the agricultural sector considered one of the most important sectors of the emerging economies (Reuven and Moreno, 5-21) Reference: Alex D. (2005) Politics & the Disaster Relief Industry in Africa New York; Oxford University Press Pp. 19-43 Frances L. (2007)

Twelve Myths -World Hunger, New York; Oxford University Press Pp. 33-40 Frederick C. (2007) Famine, Conflict and Response, a Basic Guide Famine Crimes New York; Oxford University Press Pp. 9-15 Kenneth A (2006). World Hunger Series 2006 Hunger and Learning Africa: World Food Programme and Stanford University Press Pp. 17-27 Reuven G, and Moreno R. (1997) Government intervention and the African miracle, Business Economics Pp. 5-21 Williams, T. (2006) Fighting Famine in Southern Africa, Steps Out of the Crisis retrieved from: http://www. ifpri. org/pubs/ib/ib8. Accessed on May 30, 2008

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