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/>.
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