Africa, which has 200 million hectares of uncultivated arable land, accounts for more than half of the world's arable land, is used to grow crops such as cocoa, coffee and cottonseed oil for export, while the staple food of Africans, wheat and rice, come mainly from outside the continent and require significant imports and humanitarian assistance to avoid hunger. Many people attribute this to the low productivity caused by factors inherent in Africa, such as drought, soil quality, perennial war, etc., but ignore external forces, which is actually the root cause of the current food shortage in Africa. We will try to explore from a historical perspective how Africa has lost its wealth over the centuries and become poorer, and how external factors have brought Africa's food production and supply step by step into the abyss. #一国一品走近非洲 #
Economic and agricultural development in Africa before European maritime trade (early fifteenth century).
Africa has been part of the world economic trading system for thousands of years. Since the early first millennium BC, Africa has been trading with mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries through the Red Sea, and West African timber, gold, etc. have been transported to the north, while salt, dates, horses, camels, etc. have been transported to the south.
By the 5th century BC, the Arabs had monopolized trade in the region, importing goods such as Chinese porcelain and silk, Indian textiles, Javanese spices, Iraqi, Iranian and Arab glass, tools and iron pots. These items were then exchanged with Africa for goods, including gold, silver, copper, ivory, rhino horn, animal skins, and spices such as cloves and cinnamon, as well as grains grown and dyes produced near trade centers. This trade route has also been figuratively referred to by historians as the "caravan route".
Relying on trade exchanges, the local people accumulated a lot of wealth, which greatly promoted the development of agriculture. In order to minimize losses caused by rainfall changes and pests, local farmers adopted a multi-variety intercropping system that produced more than 2,000 varieties of cereals, including millet and sorghum, due to excessive or too little rainfall in Africa, as well as large changes in soil fertility and temperature. At the same time, because hot and humid conditions make it difficult to store food, crop crops such as rhizomes, tubers, pulses, grains and other crops that are easy to store are favored.
However, due to the lethargy caused by tsetse flies at that time in cattle, horses and humans, the use of animal power in farming and transportation and the availability of manure were limited, which greatly limited the development of agricultural intensification. Intensification occurs mainly in lakes and rivers, foothills and highlands, wet coastal areas and near inland deltas to meet the needs of caravan routes and non-agricultural production centres. By the early 15th century, there were estimated to be about 27 million hectares of crops in Africa, most of which required some degree of irrigation.
In short, during this period, there were highly developed and complex socio-economic and political systems in the African region, which had accumulated wealth as a result of trade and had also contributed to the development of agricultural systems, diversified agricultural systems that had evolved and adapted to local geographical and climatic conditions and ensured food security in the African region.
Agriculture and Economic Development in Africa during the Royal Charter Period (Early 15th Century to Mid-19th Century)
The arrival of europeans broke the unprecedented boom in African trade and agriculture. At first, European merchants came to West Africa to exchange salt for gold and ivory, and later Europeans sailed around Africa to Asia, so Africa also became an important trading node for European traders to hoard goods on their way to and from Asia. On an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean directly to East Asia, they stumbled upon the Americas and established colonies in those regions, but disasters, wars, and diseases led to the near extinction of native Americans.
The new colonies needed peasants, and they targeted the african slave market, so European merchants began to buy slaves from Africa, and African slave owners were willing to sell slaves, because their own gold resources were drying up and they needed to find new ways to make money. Although Africa was slavery at the time, unlike in other regions, slaves often had rights similar to those of non-slaves, i.e., their children themselves did not automatically become slaves. Where to go in search of more slaves?
The only way is war! Countries went to war with their neighbors to capture their citizens and then sold those citizens to Europeans. From the perspective of African rulers, while weakening their opponents, they also made a lot of money in the process, which seems to be a good deal. Thus, over time, the slave trade transformed from a relatively small market into a vast system of war.
More and more slaves were transported to plantations in the Americas for farming, and raw materials such as sugar cane, cotton, and cocoa produced by slaves were then transported to Europe for sale. In Europe, these materials were turned into manufactured goods, such as wine, clothing or weapons, which were then shipped back to Africa by traders for profits to buy new slaves.
It was a good deal for everyone but slaves: the American colonies received slaves used on plantations, europeans received raw materials, and Africans received manufactured goods. As Europeans established more colonies in the Americas, more slaves were needed, which had a long-term impact on African economies and production.
Before industrialization, a country's economy was determined by the number of people in the country, and the more people it had, the stronger the economy became. If you have a large population base, you can get a subset of people to produce something other than food, but these industries take centuries of accumulation to mature, so there has never been industrial accumulation in Africa. Because most people were sold as slaves.
Since slaves were mostly able-bodied men, agricultural production also declined dramatically, leading to widespread famine in many inland societies. At the same time, slaves were increasingly supplied in Europe and the Americas, and the demand for African agricultural products fell sharply, which had a devastating impact on production and trade near ports.
Industry in Europe, Asia and the United States is constantly evolving and growing, while industries in Africa are stagnant and soon unable to compete with imports from Europe and Asia, and African industry becomes insignificant because you can buy better and cheaper products from the European and Asian markets.
In short, until the 19th century, Africa's economy and agricultural production declined, as the slave trade slowly destroyed Africa's economies and had a devastating impact on Food Security and Community Cohesion in Africa.
Economic and agricultural development in Colonial Africa: Mid-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century
When a region becomes weaker, there will always be the strong who take advantage of the weak. In the 19th century, two major events took place, further leading to poverty and backwardness in Africa.
The first is the end of slavery. Suddenly, African slave traders lost their customers, which was a big problem for Africa, because its economy depended on the export of slaves and the import of foreign goods, and while losing its main source of income, Africa's agricultural development was scarce because of the slave trade, and no other industries were established. As a result, there were no resources to trade with the outside world, and as a result, African economies slowly collapsed in the 19th century.
The second is the development of european industrialization. In the 1870s, as European industrialization was in full swing, Europe had the ability to transport large quantities of heavy materials across the sea. Previously, it was not profitable to transport ore from Africa to Europe, but steam technology meant that it all became a reality. The weak were again exploited by the strong, and soon almost all of Africa was colonized by European empires, with even more serious consequences for Africa.
European colonists showed little concern for the indigenous peoples of Africa, who were driven out of the most fertile areas of the soil to make room for European settlers, and in addition to minerals, plantation-grown agricultural products became primary commodities for Europe's nascent industries, such as cotton, cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, gum, wax and leather.
This has also led to a shift in local agricultural production from traditional food and fibre crops to the cultivation of export crops, weakening local controls on food security and eroding local cottage industries. European countries, on the other hand, shifted the profits of production to trade through control over commodity prices and trade.
Colonial powers focused on two or three export crops per colony, such as maize and cattle from Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya; Sisal and coffee in Kenya and Tanzania; As well as gold coast and nigerian cocoa and so on.
As a result of the establishment of colonial marketing committees by these colonists, control of export commodities was strengthened through price control. African farmers are paid much less than they are market value for producing agricultural products, which leads to no capital or incentives for investment in agricultural productivity, and limits hinder the development of local agriculture. At the same time, the colonial government invested little in infrastructure such as railways and ports, and when they did, they only invested to facilitate the transportation of raw materials rather than local trade networks and development. There is little research or investment in local food production and marketing.
In short, the colonizers used the African people and land to grow tea, coffee, bananas and palm oil, etc., but in either case, the purpose was to continue to exploit mining and agricultural resources, no matter what wealth the Africans had, the colonists would systematically take it from them and use it for European manufacturing. In the Gambia, for example, by 1851, the export volume of shelled peanuts reached 11 million tons. After the oil is extracted, nutrient-rich residues are used as cattle feed for European rather than African farmers. While some products are sold in Africa, most of the products and profits have been transferred abroad.
Economic and Agricultural Development in Post-Independence Africa: From the Mid-Twentieth Century to the Present
African soldiers who fought for Britain and France during World War II gained a thirst for political freedom, which led to the upsurge of independence movements in Africa. The colonists realized that millions of Europeans could not control more than 200 million Africans, so from 1945 to 1975, almost all african colonies became independent.
African independence leaders promised to lead Africans to prosperity after independence, and most countries did so by nationalizing many industries, including mining, construction, plantations, and more. National resources were then used for industrialization, as manufacturing jobs at that time were paid higher than in agriculture, replacing low-wage jobs in agriculture and mining with high-paying jobs.
But the road to industrialization is fraught with difficulties. Because Africa gained independence in the Cold War, it received some foreign aid from the West and the former Soviet Union, but due to trade restrictions between African countries, it meant that products produced in Africa could not be sold within Africa and could not compete with European and Asian products externally.
Second, Africans initially lack the skills and education needed to work in manufacturing, which means they are far less efficient than their well-educated counterparts in other parts of the world. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, only about 8,000 of the 200 million Africans had secondary education, 200 had a university education, and one-third of school-age children had attended primary school. In general, it takes decades for manufacturing to have enough qualified professionals to join the job market, so African countries lack the talent to make their countries prosperous.
The failure of industrialization has also led to a decline in Africa's agriculture, with the colonial period leading to excessive monolithic cultivation and predominantly export-oriented cultivation in Africa, with 15 of Africa's 32 countries relying on 50% or more of their export earnings on a single commodity – such as cotton in Mali, Chad and Benin, coffee in Burundi and tobacco in Malawi. Africa's economies are vulnerable to commodity prices, exchange rates and climate fluctuations.
Of the agricultural products produced, only 20 per cent remain in Africa, and 88 per cent of all agricultural imports come from outside the continent, mainly from the United States and Europe (cereals, meat and dairy products) and Asia (fruits and vegetables). Africa's agricultural exports have also shrunk sharply as a result of the focus on industrialization, which accounted for more than 30 per cent of global trade in the 1960s, but now has a small share.
With the failure of industry and agriculture, it can be said that Africa has become the world's outcast. Of course, africa's agriculture and economy are also gradually improving in recent years, although it is still in the situation of mainly exporting raw materials, but it is currently experiencing economic development, if this development continues, it will eventually be possible to end centuries of large-scale poverty, thanks to the vast undeveloped arable land, and some even have expected that Africa will become the "breadbasket" of feeding the world in the future!