Analyzing Political and Economic Obstacles to African Agriculture

This report critically analyzes an article published in The Economist, which discusses the state of agriculture in Africa. The report highlights the importance of agriculture for both human welfare and economic development, given that a majority of the African population depends on it for their livelihoods. The analysis focuses on various challenges faced by African farmers, including poverty, lack of resources, and political obstacles, such as governmental governance issues hindering agricultural productivity. It examines the impact of government policies, including subsidies and investments in research and infrastructure, on agricultural output in different regions of Africa. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for a green revolution in Africa, advocating for better infrastructure and investment to support farmers and boost overall agricultural productivity.

Running head: SOCIAL SCIENCE
SOCIAL SCIENCE
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The Economist published a new article regarding agriculture production that was required
extensively in the African region. The article was able to display the need for government
support — the ideas that political obstacles are acting as a hindrance for agricultural productivity
(Hielscher et al. 476). The barriers include governance of the government as well. In this paper,
the article published by The Economist is subjected to critical commentary. The paper aims to
analyses the article that intends to discuss the agricultural situations of Africa.
According to Chambers, Africa’s majority of the population lives in rural areas, and they
are highly depended on agriculture for their livelihoods. The article have also mentioned the
same statement. Agriculture in Africa is crucial both human welfare as well as economic
development. Majority of Africa’s population is depended on agriculture for their livelihoods.
They live in extreme poverty and earn meagre wages. Most of the poverty and hunger in Africa
is for the lack of sufficient food production. There is insufficient income generator from the
small-scale farming. Farmers in the small scale are poor and fail to afford necessities for proper
production of food such as water supply, pest control, inequitable land distribution and many
more. All these conditions of African farmers and agricultural situations give insights on the
importance of agriculture in Africa. The reason these information is shared is to highlight the
importance of agriculture in Africa.
The article ‘How does your garden grow?’, published in The Economist have provided
some insights on the same issue. The article begins giving a brief description of the past situation
of Butajira and Gullu. The land that was fertile earlier has become opposite in recent days.
According to Getahun Shumulo, crops can be grown more if a farmer follows what the
government says. Similar to Getahun, there are several farmers that are anticipating
transformation. The more money they have to spend on agriculture the more profit they can

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make. However, on the other hand, the people in the rural place are on the verge of letting go
farming as profession and moving out of the rural area to town. They tend to be more productive
spending longer hours than the hours they spent in the field.
Since 2002, the per cent of African workers engaged in agriculture has decreased from
66% to 57%. However, the percentage of agricultural production has grown to at an average
level of 4.6% a year. Even though there is an increase in percentage, the region is lagging
behind. Through research, it has been found that most of the production has come from increased
land and not improved productivity, which should have been the actual source of the increase in
production (The Economist).
The process of increasing the agricultural yield that is observed mostly in rural areas of
the world is improved productivity. However, the process does not seem to occur in Africa. The
government has been a sort of obstruction in this process. It is the role of government that is
most important in this situation. The most important partner is the government. However, it has
not been the way it is in other countries, and Africa is the weakest link.
According to Collier and Dercon, the government is the one that should be enduring the
responsibility of public goods including research and roads, and perform regulation of market
lightly as well as in a fair manner. Therefore, in Africa, these essential duties are not entirely
performed in the right way which creates a significant problem. Farmers are reluctant and
uninterested in investing in their agriculture as there is hardly any profit made by them due to
awash market. For some farmers getting the crops to market are even more robust due to bad
roads.

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According to Rosecrance, the plights of the farmers in the early days were even worse
when many farmers were compelled to sell their crops for a small change through state-run
marketing boards. The main aim for such a step by the government was to offer cheap food to
the people living in the city however the result turned the otherwise into an increase in
smuggling and such.
In the year 1980s, various African states were liberalised when the expenditure on
research and subsidies were cut down with the hope of best. In the year 2003, 10% of the
government’s budget was allotted to agriculture. However, by the end of 2016, only ten countries
were able to meet the target out of 44 data that were available. Malawi region was at the top of
the list that was spending 15% of its budget to agriculture. Most of the resources that were
included in the 15% were spent in a expensive system of seed and fertilisers subsidies. The
program also encouraged corruption in the well-connected businessmen. The farmers who used
cheap fertilisers also benefitted from the budget and helped them improve the soil. Another
different approach was from Ethiopia, and 6% output was grown since 2000 in this region. In
this approach, the subsidies were relatively low, and the government invested more in the
research, infrastructure and training.
The approaches that the government take up concerns a lot as it can act as a blessing to
agriculture or curse. The main aim of the article was to show the importance of the approaches. It
is essential to decide on approaches wisely as it has a significant impact on the state. According
to researchers such as Steven Block of Harvard and Robert Bates and turfs universities
democracy encourages policy improvement as it gives the rural farmers the opportunity to
present their views. The Malawi region has politicians using unnecessary, wasteful subsidies in
order to win votes. However, in authoritarian Ethiopia the situation is different, the government

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worked to advert the rural discontentment that rebels against the communist predecessors. It
displays the way agriculture is seen as the way of building legitimacy. However, to imitate
Ethiopia is probably not the best model. It is a domineering system of state control that operates
in few places and does not work in few areas.
According to Borras, Franco and Wang, 2013, proper governance is what that makes the
change. Politicians manipulate the data and resources as per their need and as per voting. They
shift the focus from training to handing out inputs. Often there are issues such as the growth of
seeding. Farmers also face problems while receiving any particular helps they need from
government. Political obstacles are not superficial, they occur, and they are insuperable.
However, as mentioned in the article, Africa’s governance has improved, with better data can
make the government more responsible. The agricultural business is a massive business, and it
becomes hard to keep good practices. Therefore, it is vital that the government takes the primary
responsibility.
The article was written in The Economist, “How does your garden grow?” has
successfully shown the difference the difference between two regions of Africa and its
governance. The difference in the management of the government has an impact on the region’s
agriculture. The article has simply portrayed the difference between the two areas. Politics and
different approaches can make a difference in the agricultural business. Farmers in Africa have
been through tough times, and the pace of improvement is too slow. In the end, it can be
concluded that a green revolution is extremely needed in Africa, and with better infrastructure
and investment it is even possible. Africa a place with mainly a rural population and therefore
the farmers can benefit from such a program and even the state.

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References:
Borras Jr, Saturnino M., Jennifer C. Franco, and Chunyu Wang. "The challenge of global
governance of land grabbing: changing international agricultural context and competing
political views and strategies." Globalizations 10.1 (2013): 161-179.
Chambers, Robert. Rural development: Putting the last first. Routledge, 2014.
Collier, Paul, and Stefan Dercon. "African agriculture in 50 years: smallholders in a rapidly
changing world?." World development 63 (2014): 92-101.
Hielscher, Stefan, et al. "Rationalizing the GMO debate: the ordonomic approach to addressing
agricultural myths." International journal of environmental research and public health
13.5 (2016): 476.
Rosecrance, Richard. The resurgence of the west: How a transatlantic union can prevent war and
restore the United States and Europe. Yale University Press, 2013.
The Economist, How does your garden grow?, The Economist; London Vol. 429, Iss. 9116, 50.
2018, Retrived from:
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/11/03/africa-needs-agreen-
revolution