THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 277, November 27, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ADD HERBICIDES TO AFRICA'S RESCUE PLAN
By Dennis T. Avery
AFRICAN AGRICULTURE & FOOD PRODUCTION IN THE CONTEXT OF AN EXPANDING AFRICAN POPULATION: WHAT SHOULD AFRICA DO ABOUT ITS
DECLINING FOOD PRODUCTION PER CAPITA? THE SAME THING FIRST-WORLD FARMERS DO IN THIS AGE OF TECHNOLOGY: USE HERBICIDES,
AS WELL AS BETTER SEEDS & FERTILIZERS. ALSO, BUILD & MAINTAIN BETTER FARM-TO-MARKET ROADS.
FULL STORY:
Africa is the only continent where food production per capita is falling, as its population continues to expand. Three-fourths of Africa’s food is produced on small
farms that get radically lower crop yields than its experimental farms.
Even if these little farms got adequate fertilizer and high-yield seeds, they still wouldn’t get the higher yields produced by First-World farmers because of the heavy
weed populations fostered by Africa’s high temperatures, high humidity, and intense sunlight. A Nigerian field has an estimated 200 million weed seeds per hectare!
African women are courting disabling diseases as they spend 300 hours per hectare per season to hand-weed a field of corn. The weeds also limit too many African
families to one acre of low-yield corn per year. The kids are weeding instead of going to school because the family has to eat. The men have gone to the cities
because poor roads mean they can’t earn a living selling farm products from their villages, even if they were able to produce extra food for sale. AIDS has cut the
available farm labor by at least 10 percent, and malaria by more than that. The healthy must spend their time nursing the ill.
The critical weeding time is the first one-third of the crop’s existence, and that means weeding competes with planting on most small farms. Corn crop losses in an
un-weeded field have been measured at 55-90 percent, rice yield losses at 50-100 percent. Poor weed control cut yields in a Kenya cassava field by 5 tons per hectare.
What should Africa do? The same thing First-World farmers do in this age of technology — use herbicides. In a Nigerian test plot, atrazine on the corn crop doubled
yields and cut costs by 60 percent. On peanuts, in Zimbabwe, herbicides cut weed control labor from 100 hours per hectare to one-fourth of an hour per hectare while
yields rose sharply.
African governments are now pinning hopes on fertilizer as a crucial input to raise food yields and meet its fast-rising food needs without plowing down more wildlife
habitat. Putting only fertilizer on a weedy corn plot can, unfortunately, increase yield losses! Weeds can often out-compete crop plants for the nitrogen in the soil.
That is why the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) reported as early as 1998 that crop yields in Africa would stay at the subsistence level as
long as the hand-hoe is the primary means of weeding.
Africa will need lots of little countryside farm stores to distribute the better seeds, fertilizers, and herbicides. It needs weed experts far below the PhD level, people who
will live and work in the farming regions. It needs better roads, to bring in the inputs and take out food to sell in the cities. Without these rural enhancements the rural
population will stay at subsistence level, while increased land clearing will keep the wildlife at risk of extinction
The rest of the world needs to come to terms with the African population growth, which will be proportionally greater than anywhere else in the world over the next 40
years. After 2050, the population growth will be over, but any African wildlife species lost in the next four decades will be gone for good.
England’s Prince Charles went to Africa last April and told them they need organic-only farming. They’ve been farming organically for thousands of years and have
reaped hunger from low yields and economic stagnation in rural areas. That won’t feed the population that’s building in Africa any more than it will feed tomorrow’s
population in China, India, or Bangladesh.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Africa South of the Sahara -- Black Africa
Agriculture, the Economy, & Human Health & Welfare:
Policy Issues Relating to Food Production & Consumption
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Science, Ethics, & Human Health:
Human Health & Public Policy
Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow for the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., is an environmental economist. He was formerly a senior analyst for the U.S.
Department of State. He is co-author, with S. Fred Singer of Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years. Readers may write to him at P.O. Box 202,
Churchville, Virginia, 2442; email to cgfi@hughes.net; or visit us at www.cgfi.org
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XIII, 2011
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity