Improving Irrigation in Ethiopia Final Project Sarah Becknell

This infographic provides a lot of background information for the current drought in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been battling the effects of the drought for years which means crop yield and livestock are beginning to dwindle and die. 1.4 billion dollars are needed to cover the aid of all the people who are being impacted by this drought. However, there is an alternative where we could only spend 100 million vs 1.4 billion by simply improving the current irrigation systems and systems that are in charge of the irrigation projects. This infographic goes into the details of the 5 cause-and-effect steps to improve irrigation that could vastly change the production of the agricultural sector of Ethiopia. 

Works Cited

FAO. AQUASTAT website. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2016. http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/ETH/

"A Massive Drought in Ethiopia Again?" Aid for Africa. N.p., 10 Feb. 2016. Web. http://www.aidforafrica.org/blog/massive-drought-ethiopia/?gclid=CjwKEAjw2qzHBRChloWxgoXDpyASJAB01Io0MY9jIFKFLFaHAVy_p0pXg_fgGJGKm_432rofBT95zxoC-5bw_wcB

"Ethiopia Initiates 10 Irrigation Projects." AFROL News. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.afrol.com/articles/26415

World Bank. 1987. Ethiopia - Small-scale Irrigation and Conservation Project. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/430811468251409173/Ethiopia-Small-scale-Irrigation-and-Conservation-Project

Loren Weber's Final - How is Cocoa grown? How does it affect the economy? What is Fair Trade?

What role do traditional crops and cropping systems have today in Africa? - Kinner, Nelson, Garcia, Sheppard

Comic strip polyculture&monoculture (1) from Bethany Sheppard

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Dhv99MsAXsZnbDdh9w_b5_FQAkhSX0fWh3ecwj5pvEU/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=30000

What role do traditional crops and cropping systems have today in Africa? Are they still useful?

Our chimeratic photo is a representation of a few of the traditional cropping systems in Africa. These have provided lower populations with a way to live a sustainable lifestyle. Some of these systems include nomadic herding, polycultural cropping, monocultural cropping, and shifting cultivation. Many of the traditional methods of agriculture in Africa are being rediscovered and implemented today but the use of some methods have been discontinued. There are many reasons for this that we will explain.

Polyculture, the opposite of monoculture, and intercropping allowed farmers to plant different crops on their small farms. This allowed them to utilize their space as they grew crops that took nutrients from different layers of the ground. Also, this method provided insurance in case one crop failed. Industrialization and use of machines makes polyculture difficult because the crops mix when they are harvested. Incorporating fertilizer and irrigation is also harder when the crops react differently to their resources (“Advantages and Disadvantages of Intercropping”). However, in a sense, some intercropping systems allow for natural fertilizers to be incorporated as some legumes serve as nitrogen fixers for the crops they grow alongside of.  Usage of this polyculture practices declined following colonization of Africa, as colonists pushed the production of their cash crops with little interest in sharing the land.

European influences resulted in a change from polycultural to monocultural farming. The rise of cash crops and plantations for those cash crops made polycultural farming unappealing to Europeans. While monocultural farming is industrially easier, it has disadvantages too. After a while, the pests that target the selected crop will increase, gradually decreasing the yield for that crop in the area. Also, growing the same crops deplete the same nutrients in the soil, which is not good (“Advantages and Disadvantages of Monoculture Farming”).

Shifting cultivation provided a method to replenish nutrients in the soil. Africans would farm the area, leave it, then eventually come back. This required a lot of land, which became unavailable due to urbanization and land rights that reserved the land needed.  (“Advantages and Disadvantages of Shifting Cultivation”). Our professor, Mary Parr,  also claims that “there’s just a better way to do this”, which is why it has lost its popularity.

Traditional crops in Africa provided sustainable food sources for small communities. After Europeans and others introduced other crops to Africa, such as during the Atlantic Slave Trade, some of the traditional crops were exceeded in production by the non-native plants. Some of the common crops today  include maize (especially), rice, cassava, peanuts, and yams. However, maize and cassava were not traditional crops grown in Africa.

By Adam Funck, Dave Bell, Natalie Ball, and Loren Weber

Works Cited 

"Advantages and Disadvantages of Intercropping." AgriInfo. AgriInfo, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017. <http://www.agriinfo.in/?page=topic&superid=1&topicid=662>.

"Advantages and Disadvantages of Monoculture Farming." Greentumble. Greentubmle, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2017. <http://greentumble.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-monoculture-farming/>.

"Advantages and Disadvantages of Shifting Cultivation." Customwritingservice. Customwritingservice, 05 May 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017. <http://www.customwritingservice.org/blog/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-shifting-cultivation/>.

Photo Sources:

http://keywordsuggest.org/gallery/1256740.html

http://wwfnepal.org/?206908/Rehabilitating-land--degraded-by-shifting--cultivation

http://www.gifex.com/images/0X0/2009-11-07-10926/Africa-outline-map.jpg

https://livingwatermicrofinance.org/what-is-african-agroforestry/

Meme Prompt

Minor Project Question: “What role do traditional crops and cropping systems have today in Africa? Are they still useful?”

In depth exploration: How has shifting cultivation been used traditionally and how is it being used now? Why has it changed?

Brittany Sandoval, Maci New, Fatim Keita, Kenny Holbrook

 

Shifting cultivation is a form of agriculture used especially in tropical Africa. Shifting cultivation is a process that consists of an area of ground being cleared of vegetation and cultivated for a few years. It is then abandoned for a new area until its fertility has been naturally restored. This process is one of the earliest forms of traditional cropping systems used in Africa.

Historically, the continent of Africa was mostly sporadically inhabited, so farmers were able to use large areas of fertile land without interference. In this custom the farmers would choose the most fertile lands for cultivating their crops and then moved on to other areas after a couple of years, as they began to observe deterioration in the fertility of the soils and yields of the crops, they relocate to areas that were more fertile. This farming method is called shifting cultivation, also known as slash and burn. Farmers were capable of providing adequate food staples and various goods that satisfied the farmers' daily needs during most periods throughout the year while sustaining the area’s soil fertility for a longer period (Harrison, 1987). Therefore, many of Africa’s farmers are practicing small-scale sustainable farming methods today as they did thousands of years ago.

Although shifting cultivation is still practiced today some changes have been made over time. A main reason why shifting cultivation has changed is due to the decrease of availability of land. Population continues to increase within many African countries and that increases the demand for land within the environment used for living space. Shifting cultivation requires that you have enough land in order to alternate the usage of farm land. Due to the fact that land increasingly became limited people were forced to find alternative ways to cultivate the land in a way in which required less land mass. An alternative to shifting cultivation is  taungya system of large-scale forest plantation establishment used by forest departments, in which food crops are inter-planted with trees in the early years of the plantation(Okigbo,1981).

Today, traditional shifting cultivation is still used but mainly only by rural African populations. These populations are virtually all of low socioeconomic status (in poverty) and thus their access to agricultural inputs is extremely limited (Ickowitz, 2006).

Citations/sources:

Ickowitz, Amy. 2006. Shifting cultivation and deforestation in tropical Africa: critical reflections. Development and Change 37 (3): 599-626. [Internet]. [Cited 20 Apr 2017]. Available from:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227634471_Shifting_Cultivation_and_Deforestation_in_Tropical_Africa_Critical_Reflections

Harrison, Paul. “The Greening of Africa: Breaking Through In the Battle for Land And Food”. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin, 1987. Web. 14 APR 2017.   https://www.jstor.org/stable/161034?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

OKIGBO, B.N. 1981. Alternatives to shifting cultivation. Ceres (FAO), 15 (6): 41-45. Rome.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/r5265e/r5265e06.htm

Major Post 8 Reupload Rap

Bethany, Brittany, Sarah, Natalie

Major Post 6 Reupload Gameshow

Brittany, Bethany, Sarah, Natalie

Godfather Redub Reupload

Kenya Seed and Plant Varieties Act

Meme… What effect do international seed companies …?

Bethany Sheppard, Priscila Garcia, Grace Kinner, Kenny Nelson

Africa’s economy places emphasis on agricultural growth and exporting as a chief source of income for many communities on the continent. As it continues to be the continent that grows many of the crops exported to other areas of the world today, it has become a prime market for corporate seed companies to pursue. Of the world’s top ten seed companies, two can be found in Japan, four in Europe, and three in the United States. Monsanto, the world’s largest seed corporation, sells about 23% of the seed found in the global seed market, and is located in the United States. There is an ever present push from these corporations to establish connections to African agricultural producers, in order to expand their own markets. Even though these industries are pushing for a presence in Africa, their genetically modified crops have not been largely adopted throughout the continent. There is significant wariness towards implementing GMOs that is widespread across the continent, resulting in only Sudan, Burkina Faso, and South Africa utilizing them in high quantities.

While GMOs, which are largely backed by these corporate seed companies, can be particularly effective at increasing crop yields, and easing farmer’s production practices, there are definitely some drawbacks to their usage. For instance, South African farmers have experienced a few directly related to pest control. Monsanto experienced significant backlash during their attempts to implement MON810, a strain of Bt maize, for a project called Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA). The goal of this program was to develop and introduce water efficient maize varieties to small-scale farmers in several countries including South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique. These maize varieties were also to contain insect resistant characteristics. However, after fifteen years of MON810 being introduced for this project, there was significant accumulated genetic resistance from the pests that the Bt maize was supposed to protect against. This caused substantial losses to the farmers who were participating and cost Monsanto more money in the end to pay compensation to farmers who experienced crop failure. In an effort “to deal with the pest infestation, Monsanto has compensated South African farmers who experienced more than 10% damage on their genetically modified (GM) insect resistant crops – some farmers experienced as high as 50% insect infestation” (Swanby pg. 4). The uncertainty of the duration of effectiveness for GM crops is cause for hesitancy for implementation on the continent.

          Despite the general hesitancy to introduce GM crops to African agricultural systems, in the recent past there have been instances of government backing of their introduction and implementation. An example of this is that in 2002, the South African government, in partnership with Monsanto, launched the Massive Food Production Program (MFPP) in the country's Eastern Cape Province, a program designed to bring about agrarian transformation through a "green revolution”. The program grants subsidies and credit to small farming communities to purchase fertilizers, pesticides and GM or hybrid seeds. Through MFPP, Monsanto became a government “extension agency” responsible to educate and train farmers about GM seeds and modern agricultural techniques. As a company which actually produces GM seeds, they certainly did not share with farmers the potentially disastrous effects of planting their land with GM crops. Rather, they strongly encouraged them to buy and use them to boost their yields. They also convinced them to only plant GM maize, as a monoculture, instead of intercropping as they have done to ensure their food security (Siqwana-Ndulo). It is also important to mention that the cost of the inputs can be, often times, too high for small farmers to afford on their own, without continuing to accumulate debt. The worst thing is that indebted farmers are at direct risk of losing land tenure to the benefit of large agro-companies since they are working towards acquiring land tenure in fertile tropical African agricultural zones (Ashton).

Because industrial agriculture is where the majority of the money is emphasized, the small farm holders are often forgotten or ignored. The lack of  “institutional and pro-poor policies that are sensitive to women’s circumstances undermine the impact that many South African policies have on the local, particularly the poor” (Thamaga-Chitja). Rather than investing in the grassroots movements of the poorer families, the nation tends to focus their policies on benefitting the larger, industrial agriculture systems that interact with other countries, not the local economy. These small-farm holders seem to have three main disadvantages - the lack of inputs, the lack of financial ability, and the lack of  accessibility to markets (“A Framework”). Industrial agriculture tends to monopolize the most profitable crops so small-scale farmers usually get stuck producing crops that cannot be sold beyond their local economy, leading to a lower profit.

Overall, the effects that international seed companies and corporate agriculture have are largely centered on accumulating the most profit from their products, without taking a multifaceted and lengthy approach to determining the best steps for the implementation of the product. This leads to mistakes being made, which are oftentimes overlooked because this kind of agricultural development falls under the guise of ‘welfare’ or ‘helping the poor farmers’ in nations on the continent of Africa. South African farmers are becoming increasingly aware of the deception that GM seeds and technologies will bring development and pull them out of poverty. Once they sign the contract with a seed company, they have to abide by the company's’ patent laws, which prohibit them from saving seeds from their harvest for the next season and sharing them with neighbors, relatives and friends. Therefore, farmers have to buy new seeds each season creating a dependency on corporate seeds. In general, agricultural corporations and international seed companies are and will continue to be very influential over African agriculture, impacting the lives of small farm holders and dominating exportation economies.

Ashton, Glenn. "Is Africa about to lose her right to her seed?" Grain. N.p., 23 Apr. 2013. Web.

13 Apr. 2017.

Claire. "The world's top 10 seed companies: who owns Nature?" GM Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 09

Apr. 2017.

"A Framework for the Development of Smallholder Farmers through Cooperative Development." Nda.Agric. Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries Department, July 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

"GMOs, A Global Debate: South Africa, Top GMO-Producer in Africa." The Epoch Times, 23\

Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Lanteri, Sergio, and Luciana Quagliotti. "Problems related to seed production in the African

region." SpringerLink. Kluwer Academic Publishers, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

Siqwana-Ndulo, Nombulelo. "Monsanto Faces Rising Opposition in South Africa." GM Watch.

GM Watch, 15 Apr. 2010. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Swanby, Haidee. "Africa Bullied to Grow Defective Bt Maize: The Failure of Monsanto's

MON810 Maize in South Africa." African Centre for Biosafety, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

Thamaga-Chitja, Joyce M., and Pholoho Morojele. "The Context of Smallholder Farming in South Africa: Towards a Livelihood Asset Building Framework." J Hum Ecol 45.2 (2014): 147-55. Krepublishers. 2014. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

"Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)." Improving Agriculture. Monsanto, n.d. Web. 09

Apr. 2017.

What affect do international seed companies and corporate agriculture have on farmers in Africa?

Corporate GMO Rock my Cotton Socks 

By Adam Funck, Natalie Ball, Dave Bell, and Loren Weber

Ouagadougou, Burkino Faso - If you’re a farmer in Burkino Faso, Monsanto’s Bt cotton strain is definitely for you! Why would you not want to use the seeds that a multinational corporation owns the rights too? I don’t want to have to save seed every year, that’s just annoying. Besides, heirloom crops are so last season. GM crops are our mediocre future. As one of only three countries in Africa, including South Africa and Sudan, Burkino Faso would be ridiculous to stop using GM crops. After all, cotton production will rise by 25% this year, following Burkino Faso’s discontinuation of Monsanto’s cotton strain (Agroecology). Why on Earth would you stop using GM seeds that increased your crop yields by 20% back in 2015 just because you can increase yields even more without the GM seeds? Nobody really needs the money from selling all that cotton. Burkino Faso is already in debt by 11 billion U.S dollars anyways (Countrymeters.info). Actually, you can sell less crops and they’ll be of lower quality because the GM seeds result in a shorter fiber length for the cotton, reducing their market value. I think we can all agree with random person Dave Bell when he says “My cotton shirt was made in Honduras anyways. Who cares what their cotton is like. It won’t ever get to Honduras, so I’ll never touch that stuff.” Besides, wouldn’t it be great to grow a crop that you wouldn’t even be able to sell to Europe just because the crops grown were genetically modified and kind of crappy (Krinninger)? Also, without these corporations to tell us what to grow, who’s going to take our land from us and pay us below minimum wage? We are clearly not able to make decisions about what our best agriculture ventures are anyway. 

 Agroecology: The Bold Future of Farming in Africa." PAEPARD. GMWatch, 23 Feb. 2017. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.
 Krinninger, Theresa. "Burkina Faso Abandons GM Cotton."DW.COM. Deutsche Welle, 28 June 2016. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.
 Countrymeters.info. “Burkina Faso Economy.” Countrymeters, countrymeters.info/en/Burkina_Faso/economy. Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

Zambia Jeopardy Board

Western Colonial Influence Over Agriculture in Africa Meme

The roads in Africa did not literally go to Europe but much of the infrastructure was designed to extract raw materials and goods from African nations. Since colonization of Africa took place, Africa still faces the consequences of so called infrastructure improvements by western powers. This has led to a decrease in economic strength revolving around agriculture and trade. The trade relationships that existed between the African nations were destroyed by the infrastructure that Europeans created. New trading between African nations was difficult to foster even after the end of colonization because of the one-way direction trade routes that the infrastructure supported.

As a result of poor infrastructure, trade within Africa has been found dwindling. The African continent makes up only 1% of the global GDP, which is largely due to the lack of beneficial infrastructure that were left to them after colonization in the early 1900’s (Pottas, 3). This lack of infrastructure also led to a cut in economic growth and overall business productivity. Relating this to farmers productivity, poor infrastructure has in turn increased the costs that farmers must pay to produce their crops. However, with infrastructure hindering transportation of produced goods, farmers are unable to return profits as they have no way to get their goods to the market. In the end, this drives up the costs of African goods and makes them uncompetitive in the global market (Gajigo and Lukoma, 2).

This is a result of western powers not wanting Africa to develop and depend on them. For example, cotton cloth was one of Africa’s main imports, but its main export was raw cotton. This trade with Europe shows that Africa’s technology wasn’t developed and Europe did nothing to help besides sell them the products of their exports. This shows the dependency on western powers that Africa had.

These colonizers took advantage of this dependency to dominate Africa and control trade. As Porter and Sheppard reiterate, “the proportions of trade directed to former colonies metropoles is very high in many cases, showing how difficult it is for a country that produces few tradeable commodities (be they minerals or crops) to break out of historic trading relationships” (Porter and Sheppard, 335). Most trade was directed for the western powers’ profit and if Africans did not produce and trade what they wanted then the western powers wouldn’t trade with them. If they did trade, however, they had to keep trading or they would be ditched. In fact, less than 10% of trade in west Africa was with other African countries (Hrituleac, 15). Another example of Africa’s dependency and western power regulation is that making a phone call from Kabale, in Uganda, to Bukavu, 195 kilometers away, has to be routed to London before getting to Bukavu (Porter and Sheppard, 335). Western powers bended African trade and infrastructure to their will.

The Effects of Colonialism on Niger’s economy, Agriculture, and Environment 

By: Kenny H., Fatim K., Maci N., and Brittany S.

Taking a look at the economy, environment, and agriculture of the nation Niger we can see a difference in between the northern and southern region. The southern region of Niger has an economy that is largely driven by it’s cash crops. These cash crops consist of sorghum, millet, cowpeas, maize, tobacco, palm oil (and kernels), kola nuts, sugarcane, and fish. These crops are very important to their local trade because the people of Niger depend highly on exporting their goods for a source of income. The southern region of Niger is closer to wetter climates while the northern region is closer to dry and hot climates. The environment of the northern region of Niger is under a lot of stress. There has been droughts and poor soil quality which are a persistent threat to many African nations. These droughts affect agricultural production, leaving the people of this nation unable to produce enough food for themselves.  

The economy in the southern region of Niger, as stated before, is highly depended on the production of cash crops. One of the cash crops in this region is Paddy rice. It is widely grown in this area due to the south being considered the floodplains of Niger. These regions are close to the Kaduna rivers, allowing for a wetter climate. Food security in the southern region has steadily improved as harvests have been very widespread, a decline in seasonal prices, and the income-earning opportunities with the sale of food and cash crops and livestock. The majority of households are able to meet their food and nonfood needs without straining their livelihoods and there will be minimal food insecurity. Although the southern region is some what better off than the northern region, there are some downsides. The fact that this area gets a lot of rainfall can lead to cereal and pasture deficits. The excessive rainfall disrupts plant growth and can cause crop yields to be low. Leading to low production and less income.

As for the northern region of Niger, the local economy is heavily dependent on outside aid from World Bank, IMF, and other relief organizations. Since 1999, Niger’s government has been ran mostly by private companies and plans that have been instituted by these debt relief agencies. The southern region of Niger doesn’t face these same issues due to the fact their land is more sustainable to live on. They have more fertile land and water within the area which allows them to live more comfortably. The tribes within the Northern region are nomadic people, so they are less likely to have an established economic system. The northern population conduct in traveling within local areas to trade cattle and other animals which is why they don’t stay in one location for long, they are constantly moving to wear they gain profits. Unlike the people in the South who live sedentary lives mostly as farmers.

Sustaining growth in Niger will be difficult due to the lack of their weak economic drive. Presently, the economy remains extremely vulnerable to outside influences. Niger’s goal of developing a healthier economic independence has been irregular and slow-moving. The financial system still remains underdeveloped which reveals their small size when compared to an international economy. The inefficient regulatory and legal environment constrains commercial operations and investment. Outdated labor guidelines depress employment development.

One of the main farming methods in which contributed to the cause of droughts is the slash and burn method. The slash and burn technique removes trees from the land in order to have the land cleared for agriculture.During colonization many sub-saharan African countries partook in using the slash and burn technique which causes a large release of carbon dioxide within the the environment then destruction of living trees reduces the amount of photosynthesis, a process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. With the lack of forests it reduces the amount of precipitation in the environment, which will cause the land to become dryer and increase the probability of drought. Deforestation by contrast normally causes large losses of CO2 from the soil and vegetation , which causes the land to degrade.Agricultural production became a priority during the colonization period within Niger  because they were more pressured into producing cash crops specifically in the Southern area of Niger. The boost in the production of cash crops has damaged the environment so much, that they are incapable of producing as much as they previously were. This is why they are not capable of producing enough agriculture to sustain themselves, and the agriculture in which they do produce gets exported out of the country for profit.Between 1990 and 2005, Niger lost 34.9% of its forest cover, this is evidence of the impact of intensive agriculture. There is an continuation of desertification within Niger, the desert area , located in the North is extending further into the south due to desertification.  There is a poor distribution of rainfall within the Northern Niger region which contributes to the drought and lack of ability to produce agriculture within the area . Unlike the North , Southern Niger areas with more forests receive much more rainfall which allows for them to have more water supply and assists in the health of the soil in order to farm.

As we go further back we can see that when Europeans stepped in; traditional agricultural practices, such as migratory or rotational cropping systems based on climatic conditions, were replaced with more stagnant practices. These were intensive farming methods that cultivated the same land over and over again, which resulted in extreme degradation of the soil. Europeans had a tendency to think that the local practices of the people of Niger were very wasteful. So they were influenced to maximize their production of agricultural crops. Therefore their economy was very reliant upon agriculture, so after French colonists left the state and they became independent, the people of Niger relied heavily on agriculture to survive. Without France's assistance they were incapable of sustaining their economic development, especially within the Northern region of Niger. France ensured that Niger stays dependent on them for aid in exchange they can have more access to their natural resources specifically uranium.That is why Niger especially the Northern area relies heavily on assistance from outside the country , specifically aid from European nations  in order to provide them with necessities.Due to the fact that their economy is not diversified and their is an increase of drought and desertification, Niger is one of the poorest African countries in the world.

Works Cited

"Famine Early Warning Systems Network." Niger - Food Security Outlook: Mon, 2016-10-31 to Wed, 2017-05-31 | Famine Early Warning Systems Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Lotta, By Raymond. "Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism, and African Hunger." Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism, and African Hunger. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

"Niger." Forest Data: Niger Deforestation Rates and Related Forestry Figures. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

"Stories." ARAHA. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

"The Environmental Challenges In Sub Saharan Africa." The Environmental Challenges In Sub Saharan Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2017.

Humans of ... Western Powers still have colonial influence. 
Kenny Nelson, Grace Kinner, Priscila Garcia, Bethany Sheppard

Humans of Malawi

Ateefah (“Compassionate; sympathetic”)

“I remember being young, maybe five or six years old, and playing with my cousins in the forest near my home. Climbing trees and making forts out of fallen branches. Those trees are gone now, cut down to clear land for tobacco fields… They call me Ateefah. I’m the middle of nine children, and we all come out to work the tobacco fields everyday hoping for a good season. My parents and my four older siblings were the only ones involved in the production of tobacco, but they couldn’t produce as much as other farmers, and they weren’t making enough money to sustain our family. As a result, my four younger siblings and I started working the fields too. We help in preparing the land, planting the seeds, watering, weeding, applying fertilizers and pesticides, harvesting, stringing and hanging the tobacco leaves for curing, carrying the harvested leaves from the farms to the curing barns, and then packing them.

During arid seasons, we cannot harvest enough to sell to the buyers, and we need that money to buy food. The worst thing is that the companies that buy the tobacco from us are only seeking to make a profit, whatever the cost is. That cost is our livelihood and our health; we are exposed to the nicotine in the tobacco leaves which gives us headaches, stomach pain, coughing and respiratory diseases.  The pesticides and fertilizers we use are often sold without proper labeling or instructions. Therefore, it is quite impossible to determine how toxic they are and how to store, handle, use and dispose them. The runoff from pesticides and other chemicals goes into nearby rivers and streams, which are the source of the village water supply, and severely damages them.

There’s so much instability here, at least for those  of us who rely on growing tobacco. The tobacco leaf corporations basically control our well-being. We know that they make the biggest profit even though we do the hardest work but, we are stuck in this cycle, where the only beneficiaries are the corporations and Western Europe, one of our biggest importers. When it comes time to buy seeds and fertilizers, prices get extremely high and the kwacha (our currency) loses its value to the euro and the dollar. Prices drop immediately after; therefore, we don’t make very much money at all. Because tobacco is one of the only crops that countries import from us, we have to focus all of our attention on that. So rather than producing healthy food crops, we settle for the what is guaranteed to give us some sort of payment. Even with this payment, we still struggle to survive.

They told us growing tobacco would change our lives for the better. However, the money created created by the  tobacco market does not circulate through our local communities. Ultimately, it serves the best interests of Western Europe and the United States. We are never fully dependent on ourselves because of this. Even now, over fifty years after we declared our independence, westerners still keep their thumbs on us, still control our country. By making us dependent on one crop, and dependent on them buying it, it prevents true growth here and limits our economy. However, I believe that we can overcome this; my dream for my country is to see us one day, independent. self -sufficient, and thriving.

References

"Economy & Industry." Our Africa. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <http://www.our-africa.org/malawi/economy-industry>.

Geist, Helmut, John Kapito, and Marty Otañez. The Tobacco Industry in Malawi: A Globalized Driver of Local Land Change. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. <file:///C:/Users/sheppardb/Downloads/The_Tobacco_Industry_in_Malawi.pdf>.

Hu, Teh-wei, and Anita H. Lee. "Tobacco Control and Tobacco Farming in African Countries." Journal of Public Health Policy. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4412848/>.

Kalinga, Owen Jato, and Kenneth Ingham. "Malawi." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 02 June 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Malawi>.

"Malawi Kwacha to Depreciate after Tobacco Sells-Nico Report." Nyasa Times. 15 May 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi-kwacha-to-depreciate-after-tobacco-sells-nico-report/>.

"Tobacco in Malawi." FAO Corporate Document Repository. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4997e/y4997e0i.htm>.

African Soil Quality