 ID: 32918
Added: 2003-07-04 7:41
Modified: 2004-10-31 16:41
Refreshed: 2010-03-14 06:02
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| Chapter 12: Future prospects |
Document(s) 13 of 17
In general, the overall potential prospects for agriculture in the savanna can be promising. Much of the area enjoys an excellent climate for crop and animal production, and even the drier parts have a potential for carefully designed and executed farming or ranching systems and for irrigation where water is available. Although many of the soils are relatively fragile, most of them can be made to produce abundantly over an indefinite period with ordinary good farming practices. The FAO Agro-Ecological Zones Project (FAO 1978) has estimated that for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, only about one-sixth of the potential rainfed land is in use at present. Also, the potential irrigable land is estimated at six to eight times the present irrigated area. Even at a modest intermediate level of inputs, involving improved varieties, simple crop- and animal-protection measures, some use of fertilizers, simple field tools, some soil-conservation measures, and some supplementary power, Africa as a whole should have no problems in feeding itself, and even exporting a considerable surplus. Some countries, however, particularly in the arid and subarid zones, may have difficulties in feeding themselves, and these countries will probably need to import food from neighbouring countries (Bunting 1987). At high input levels, it is thought that Africa could feed the population of the whole world, if necessary. The potential is enormous, but the present production falls far short of the potential, and appears to be declining in many areas. It is my thesis that, in the savanna, this decline is a result of the failure of most farming systems to change and adapt sufficiently rapidly to changing conditions, particularly increasing population pressure. This failure has led to a particularly serious decline in soil productivity. Therefore, nothing is inevitable about the overall decline in savanna farming systems, but without urgent, intelligent, and sustained action by all concerned, this decline can be expected to continue, and then the outlook becomes very gloomy. Africa is littered with poorly planned and executed agricultural projects that achieve little and often eventually fail completely. Instead of publishing the results and trying to learn from these failures, they are often conveniently forgotten so that the same mistakes may be made in the same area by a similar project within 5–10 years. Therefore, I propose that the following urgent action needs to be taken by governments and international agencies working together, even though it is fully realized how severe are the constraints and pressures under which governments are working. Also some governments are exceptions and already have excellent programs operating. Land-Use Management and ConservationThe extent of the problem and the most urgent areas needing attention must be defined. This could be done by setting up a national agency for land-use management and conservation, if this does not already exist. This agency could collaborate with the FAO Agro-Ecological Zones Project to extend and test the results of that project within each country, particularly to define critically at-risk areas. The agency should also have the capability to conduct detailed studies to design improved land-management systems for specific areas such as watersheds with special problems, resettlement areas, irrigation schemes, and so on. Farming Systems ResearchA strong FSR capability must be established, if it does not already exist, to work with farmers, extension workers, and others in the areas identified as needing urgent attention. Strong on-station backup component research is also needed. Results of all research and development projects, whether they succeed or fail, should be published and made widely available so that others can learn from the successes and failures. Communications and Markets All possible action must be taken to improve roads and other communication channels between the affected areas and national, regional, and international markets, and to encourage traders and other agencies to provide efficient markets and input supplies. IncentivesWhile encouraging commercial trading activities, ways must also be sought to establish adequate incentives for farmers. These incentives should correspond to those identified by the FSR teams as most likely to correspond with farmers' needs and assist them in transforming their farming systems into productive, sustainable forms. An important part of this would have to be plans for the storage (preferably on-farm), transport, and marketing of possible surplus production. As the recently concluded (1995) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks have clearly shown, the question of incentives for farmers is an extremely difficult problem, which perhaps no country has solved to the satisfaction of all concerned. Yet its great importance indicates that it must receive priority attention from governments, but without establishing unsustainable price or other reward levels for farmers. Training Excellent training facilities must be established or strengthened, preferably at the national level, but failing this at the regional or international level, to train land-use, FSR, extension, and other staff to carry out these programs.
Document(s) 13 of 17
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