Famines are causing several conflicts in Africa. Initially the government policies are instigating famine, as the political decisions are leading the country into poverty. Secondly, the imbalance in fertilizers has lead to conflict as it has become very hard to produce food. Lastly, crop failure has impacted the African community as incidents such as starvation and death are frequently occurring . Overall, famine is negatively impacting the African society due to government policies, imbalance in agricultural products, and crop failure.
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| (Washington,N.D) |
Africa’s government has been making several poor decisions that have been leading the country into poverty. Political decisions have been increasing poverty throughout the African society, as millions of African’s have suffered from food shortages and other complications. A local website states, “Ethiopia faces a famine worse than the catastrophe of 1984, according to the country’s prime minister. Bad weather is partly to blame. But, as elsewhere in Africa, so too is bad government”(The Economist, 2002). This problem was extremely detrimental and killed thousands of African citizens.
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| (Wale,2010) |
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| (BBC News, 2012) |
Fertilizer imbalance has been a significant problem throughout the African society as it has been a contributor towards famines. African farmers have been struggling not just because of bad weather but also because they don’t have the education on how to farm properly. The international institute for applied systems analysis states, “nitrogen and phosphorus have to be at the same amount in order for the crop to grow”(International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2014). Farmers in Africa are clearly having troubles adapting to the farming system as they haven’t been averaging the phosphorus and nitrogen correctly.
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| (Krupnik,2014) |
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| (Chung, 2009) |
Balancing fertilizers is key to stopping famines from happening, as it would eliminate starvation as Africans would be able to produce more food. If African farmers figure out a solution for the fertilizer then the country as a whole will be more sustainable, and not have the issue of famine. In conclusion, the only way to eliminate famines from happening in the African society is to educate and provide the farmers with the proper tools (fertilizer) they need in order to grow food, but also to feed the African citizens.
Lastly, crop failure has been a major problem for Africans, as it has lead to significant problems such as starvation and death. The land in Africa is difficult for the farmers to work with, as droughts happen occasionally which dries up the soil. Andrew Johnson an author for the Independent Newspaper mentions, “hundreds of thousands of children across central Africa are at risk of death from starvation and disease after flash flooding worsened an already chronic humanitarian crisis caused by drought”(Johnson,2010).
This quote is significant as it describes the bad weather conditions and mentions how thousands of children are dying from crop failure. Both of these factors are part of famines happening in Africa, as droughts lead to crop failure and crop failure leads to starvation and death. Another statement by Johnson is, “as many as 4 out of 5 children require treatment for malnutrition”(Johnson,2010). This quote symbolizes how the majority of the children in Africa, suffer from malnutrition. These children are suffering from malnutrition as they aren’t getting the right nutrients. This is due to the lack of food produced by Africa’s agriculture, due to crop failure. Therefore, in order to eliminate famines from Africa, the African farmers will have to maintain their products better and find out solutions to help produce enough food to feed their country.
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| (Corral,2011) |
This quote is significant as it describes the bad weather conditions and mentions how thousands of children are dying from crop failure. Both of these factors are part of famines happening in Africa, as droughts lead to crop failure and crop failure leads to starvation and death. Another statement by Johnson is, “as many as 4 out of 5 children require treatment for malnutrition”(Johnson,2010). This quote symbolizes how the majority of the children in Africa, suffer from malnutrition. These children are suffering from malnutrition as they aren’t getting the right nutrients. This is due to the lack of food produced by Africa’s agriculture, due to crop failure. Therefore, in order to eliminate famines from Africa, the African farmers will have to maintain their products better and find out solutions to help produce enough food to feed their country.
Famine is negatively affecting the African society.This is because the African government has been making bad political decisions which have led the country into poverty. Famines have also been influenced through the imbalance of fertilizers. Lastly, famines have developed through the lack of agricultural. In Conclusion, the African society will only be able to overcome famine if provided with the proper tools, and provided assistance with their agricultural downfalls.
Works Cited
An Africanist Perspective. N.p., 23 June 2013. Web. 9 June 2014. <http://kenopalo.com/2013/06/23/why-are-african-governments-so-bad-at-managing-their-countries-resources/>.
"The Economist." Bad Weather, Bad Government. N.p., 11 Nov. 2002. Web. 9 June 2014. <http://www.economist.com/node/1440625>.
"International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis." Fertilizer Nutrient Imbalance to Limit Food Production in Africa. N.p., 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 June 2014. <http://www.iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/news/20140128-phosphorus-africa.html>.
Johnson, Andrew. "The Independent." Millions at Risk as Crops Fail in Central Africa. N.p., 29 Aug. 2010. Web. 11 June 2014. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/millions-at-risk-as-crops-fail-in-central-africa-2064802.html>.
I noticed that you wrote that African governments were causing famine in Africa. Although this may be true for some regions there are many, many different governments within the continent of Africa. I believe that some government are much more effective at reducing poverty and starvation than others. For example Ghana, Egypt, as well as South Africa are dealing with famine and agricultural development better than others. In many parts of Africa famine is a direct result of war for example South Sudan. Governments are responsible for wars but this is separate from agricultural developments.
ReplyDeleteYou also talk about how important fertilizer is for food production. Nitrogen and phosphorus as you mentioned are very important for plant nutrients but the balance varys a lot depending on the plant being grown and the kind of soil it’s grown in. Soil management such as the use of compost can help replace the use of fertilizer. I think compost/animal manure would be a much more practical approach for crop production for the African people.
I think that famine is such a big problem in Africa because of things like the slave trade, colonialism, as well as deforestation. The slave trade took away many able bodied young adults away from African who would have been responsible for most of the agricultural development. With no people to farm this set back development in many African countries. Colonialism also forced farmers in parts of Africa to grow almost exclusivity Coffee beans and products that would benefit the British people or whoever owned the colony. This meant that not only did the people in the colony not make very much food for themselves at the time, but they also never learned how to grow anything else when the British or other colony owners left which made it very hard for the African people to start farming crops for themselves. Deforestation also had an impact because it started to expand deserts and create drought. Trees are very useful for collecting water and maintaining moisture in areas. Once all the trees started to be cut down in areas by poor people trying to survive this created big water and soil problems which just made the poor people's situations worse.
You make good points about how destructive famine is but I think the underlying reason why famine is so prominent today is because of issues from the past. I also think the African people also should treat their soils with things like animal manure instead of expensive fertilizers to encourage crop growth.
Africa is a continent made up of many countries, each with its own government. As Alec explains, you can't lump all the countries in together. Each is doing its own thing to help its citizens (or not).
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