Publication Date
1993
Description
Africa continues to face a food and agricultural crisis, the effects of which are sometimes exacerbated by drought and civil strife. The food crisis is the result of the inability of African countries in the humid tropical areas and other zones to produce enough food to satisfy escalating demand, owing largely to rapid population growth and pressures of modernisation. Furthermore, the inability of these countries to earn adequate incomes and the lack of food security, especially in some countries suffering from drought, civil strife or war, has resulted in increasing reliance on food aid to fulfil their food import requirements. Causes of the African food crisis are multifaceted, in that they .are agricultural, demographic, environmental, economic and political. In general, food aid and commercial imports by countries, some of which are the poorest in the world, are only palliatives and short-term measures. The permanent solutions can be found in painstakingly evaluating the nature, performance, policies and constraints to increasing agricultural productivity, rectifying deficiencies and launching effective agricultural and related development programmes to produce enough food and raise incomes so as to import what cannot be produced locally. The antiquity, evolution, characteristics and resource management strategies of the largely slash and burn agriculture of humid tropical Africa are reviewed. Changes that have taken place in traditional agriculture, including the reinforcement of its commodity base by the introduction of Asian and American crops and progress made in research and extension, are noted. Constraints to increased production that are physico-chemical, biological, technological and socioeconomic are identified. The traditional agricultural systems were ecologically sound and economically viable, but they have increasingly become outmoded and unsustainable under high population densities.
Citation
Okigbo, Bede N. and Sabiti, Elly N., "Sustainability of African Farming Systems with Particular Reference to Soil Fertility, Multiple Cropping Systems and Weed Ingress in Smallholder Systems in Humid Tropical Africa" (2024). IGC Proceedings (1993-2023). 25.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1993/session13/25
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
Sustainability of African Farming Systems with Particular Reference to Soil Fertility, Multiple Cropping Systems and Weed Ingress in Smallholder Systems in Humid Tropical Africa
Africa continues to face a food and agricultural crisis, the effects of which are sometimes exacerbated by drought and civil strife. The food crisis is the result of the inability of African countries in the humid tropical areas and other zones to produce enough food to satisfy escalating demand, owing largely to rapid population growth and pressures of modernisation. Furthermore, the inability of these countries to earn adequate incomes and the lack of food security, especially in some countries suffering from drought, civil strife or war, has resulted in increasing reliance on food aid to fulfil their food import requirements. Causes of the African food crisis are multifaceted, in that they .are agricultural, demographic, environmental, economic and political. In general, food aid and commercial imports by countries, some of which are the poorest in the world, are only palliatives and short-term measures. The permanent solutions can be found in painstakingly evaluating the nature, performance, policies and constraints to increasing agricultural productivity, rectifying deficiencies and launching effective agricultural and related development programmes to produce enough food and raise incomes so as to import what cannot be produced locally. The antiquity, evolution, characteristics and resource management strategies of the largely slash and burn agriculture of humid tropical Africa are reviewed. Changes that have taken place in traditional agriculture, including the reinforcement of its commodity base by the introduction of Asian and American crops and progress made in research and extension, are noted. Constraints to increased production that are physico-chemical, biological, technological and socioeconomic are identified. The traditional agricultural systems were ecologically sound and economically viable, but they have increasingly become outmoded and unsustainable under high population densities.
