Why Africa Starves
There’s an excellent article on the BBC about why Africa suffers from annual famines.
I very much like the author’s points about factors behind the famines. Not only is there the lack of food due to crop failure, but “armed conflict, corruption and the mismanagement of food supplies, environmental degradation, trade policies that harm African agriculture and the long-term economic effects of Aids,” and especially poverty are to blame as well.
As an addendum to this, I would add the factor that African countries in general are working on a model introduced either directly or indirectly (as a reaction against) colonialism. Taking this stance, it shouldn’t be any wonder that famines come as often as they do. They are working on a model that works for certain European countries and the US and Canada precisely because those countries can afford to import their food and/or afford to grow it using modern technology. (I must admit I’m not completely certain about that last bit but it seems logical to me).
Countries like Ethiopia cannot meet this minimum requirement, yet people seem surprised and concerned when famine occurs. Not to mention that under present trade terms, Africans are generally locked into a lose-lose situation, colonially inspired. They mainly export agricultural goods which carry a low price, which are bought by richer countries. Chocolate, anyone? The simple fact is that they cannot afford to feed themselves because of the cycle of low prices for exports yet high prices for imports. They export agricultural goods like cocoa and coffee but have to import staples which they then cannot afford.
It seems to me like we should be looking for new and better ways to work through Africa’s problems instead of trying to fix a broken system based on a faulty premise (that these famine-prone countries are somehow comparable to the economic situation of the US, for example). They’re in a different situation; a different time and place. I don’t know what the solution is, but it can’t be running to the rescue every time. Money has to be diverted into education. It simply has to be.