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Africa Needs Technology
James Shikwati
March 19, 2008
Mr. Ochango, manager of Western Kenya based Imwo Agrovet
observes: “Eating sweet potatoes and tea for breakfast is a sign
of poverty. To show improved status; one has to have tea, milk
and buttered bread here in the village.” During my research days
in Mutomo (an arid part of Eastern Kenya) farmers would point
out to me that they were so poor that they had to eat ‘namba;’ a
fruit from the Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata). Africa’s
indigenous foods and fruits are vanishing from the scene either
due to change of dietary habits and little use of technology to
sustain them.
Besides the mindset that has eroded the African thirst for
indigenous foods such as millet, sorghum, Marula, Tamarind and
Ebony among others; disregard to tap into technological
advancements has made it difficult for indigenous crops to
survive the seasoned global counterparts such as maize, wheat,
mangoes, pawpaw, oranges among other plants that were brought by
explorers and colonialists. Why are our scientists spending
little time to research and commercialize some of the indigenous
plants varieties that are suited to climates of Africa?
I came across an interesting internet posting that read thus:
“Starved by the rich: the cult of organic food imposed on
Africa.” The writer Waldo Vanderhaeghen, argued that Wealthy
countries are blocking biotechnological progress from deprived
regions like Africa by giving adverse incentives that make it
difficult for our peasants to access technology. The organic
‘cult’ members according to Waldo are basically anti technology;
they abhor use of pesticides, large industrial farms and seek to
consume locally grown food to avoid a ‘large carbon foot print.’
(This means soon, you will not export far and wide lest you
violate the foot print!)
Our commodity prices are shooting through the ceiling; a 2kgs of
cooking fat which cost Ksh 250 last year, is at Ksh 350; 1 kg of
sugar up from Ksh 60 to Ksh 100; half litre of milk up from Ksh
22 to 32; a bunch of ‘sukuma wiki’ ksh 12 up to 20, 2kg of Rice
up from Ksh 120 to 160 and the list goes on. Note that
indigenous ‘commodities’ are rare to come by! Globally, Wheat
prices doubled in U.S.A to close at $345 per tonne. A looming
global food shortage is set to drive the debate on technology on
a different path. For Kenya, we attribute high prices to
election after shocks; world over its either drought and or
Climate Change drive towards bio-fuels.
Africa’s population is projected to hit 1.6 billion people by
the year 2030. In less than 10 years, Kenya’s population has
shot up from 30.84 million in the year 2000 to an estimated 36.9
million in 2007. Over 200 million Africans are faced with
starvation partly because they changed their dietary habits and
disregarded crops that would survive some of the harshest
climatic environs on the continent. Talk of malnutrition in
Africa; and scientists will point you to indigenous plants in
Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Namibia among others that
are full of nutrients and currently treated as weeds! People are
a country’s ultimate resource, how are we going to feed them if
we denounce technology in favor of climate driven agriculture as
propagated by our some from the West?
Kenyan peasants and by extension over 70% of Africa’s farming
population already practice organic farming. They cannot access
technology, fertilizer, pesticides, and quality seeds and
heavily depend on the ‘will of nature’ to harvest their crops.
Our farmers use hand-held back-breaking hoes, and are exposed to
hot sun rays on average of 6 hours per day in order to finally
deliver ‘ugali’ on the table. We are starving precisely because
we practice organic farming albeit inadvertently! ‘For us, it is
not a matter of religion, it is a matter of predicament with
which our hope is to look to our sons and daughters who have
gone to school to free us from the shackles of inefficient
agricultural practice’ said a farmer in Mumias.
African farmers have several battle fronts, unpredictable
climate, depleted soils, bad science and ‘cultists’ keen to
maintain the status quo on the continent. Some friends from
wealthy nations have handed us a bad check on technology; we
cannot feed our children if we choose to shun technology. For
Kenya and by extension Africa to gain first world status, we
must judiciously embrace technology as part of our strategy to
feed ourselves. It’s through technological advancement that our
farmers can respond to the present market stimuli that clearly
indicates a high demand for agricultural produce. Strengthened
financial and political institutions coupled with sound science
will feed our people.
James Shikwati is the Founder President of the Inter Region
Economic Network and CEO of The African Executive an online
business magazine. Mr. Shikwati was named a 2008 Young Global
Leader by the World Economic Forum. james@irenkenya.org
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