Ifeanyi Asogwa
Poor farming practices, persistent crop failure and conflict have been identified as factors leading to the worsening situation of famine and drought in sub-Saharan Africa. The development prompted the coming together of African organizations and American officials to look for ways to help protect about 40 million Africans who are currently at the risk of starvation.
According to a report in Washington File, United States government officials, African ambassadors, United Nations (U.N.) officials, and non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives met recently to discuss the growing catastrophe under attention at a programme entitled, "The Dilemma of Famine and Drought: What is Africa’s Prescription for the Future?"
The leading USG representative, Andrew Natsios, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the organization that oversees more than 50 per cent of all food donations to the U.N. World Food Program and the NGO community, placed great emphasis on improving African agricultural production and techniques to relieve the continued need for direct aid.
According to him, the present famine is a result of several factors, including politics, policy, under investment from the developed nations, and weather factors but he acknowledged there are different types and causes of famine.
One the one side, some famine is supply-driven, when there is simply not enough food to feed the population, often due to weather factors. "African agriculture has the lowest level of irrigation of any agricultural systems in the world," said Natsios, which has caused the vast majority of famine situations on the continent.
On the other hand, there is demand-driven famine, which occurs when people lack adequate funds to pay for food, which has often risen in price due to instability and conflict. Ethiopia and Somalia, Natsios pointed out, were recent examples of demand-driven famine.
"It’s clear that Africa has been falling behind in agricultural production. Seventy to eighty per cent of the people in Africa are either farmers or herders. How can you possibly address the problem of poverty in Africa unless you deal with agriculture?" said the Administrator. "We have to invest based on what works."
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