Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Why Is There Starvation?

Different people will have different ideas as to why there is so much starvation across the only part of the world where there is – in theory – space for expansion of food, not just for local people but for the entire planet.

Unless we look at the challenges from the very base, from the point of view of the farmer, we will never be able to help them escape their several predicaments.

Production of food has fallen over the last few decades because of rapid climate change.

The tropics are inevitably warmer than temperate zones, and global warming has accelerated the decline in the capacity of the soil to produce as much as it once did. This will worsen over the coming decades, as it is impossible to reverse such a situation completely.

Improvements in agriculture can be envisaged, but only with a consistent, targeted approach to the many challenges involved. Here are three key areas that must be addressed.

WATER: A shortage of water means that every drop must be conserved. Farmers should be able to build ponds and reservoirs to store rainwater and use it when needed. Governments and local authorities must anticipate and support such initiatives, yet very few donor agencies, governments, or NGOs allocate resources for this purpose.

SEEDS: Western scientists often assume they know best which seeds farmers need, but seeds must be suited to local soils and water availability. A seed that thrives in temperate Europe may fail in a sandy or flood-prone African region. Solutions must be tailored to specific environments rather than imposed based on outside assumptions.

SOIL: Centuries of cultivation exhaust the soil, requiring nourishment such as nitrogen to restore fertility. In Western countries, animal dung is widely used as fertiliser, but in much of Africa, dung is too precious to use for soil because it is needed as fuel for cooking and heating. This creates a cycle where the soil continues to degrade and yields decline.

Tackling hunger in sub-Saharan Africa requires practical, locally adapted solutions – not imported assumptions. Only by addressing water access, seed suitability, and soil fertility can we hope to create lasting agricultural progress.