African Infrastructure and Agriculture

The food situation in many parts of the world is critical. Here in the U.S. we complain about rising prices yet our grocery shelves continue to be well-stocked with every imaginable item of food.

Africa is one continent that experiences chronic food shortages. In addition to the shortages, the rising price of food commodities makes it difficult to impossible for many of the poorest to purchase their food needs.

There are many reasons for the problems faced by Africa. The largest is the seemingly unending political unrest in every nation on the continent. The unrest is fueled by greed, corruption, inter-tribal warfare, religious persecution, inadequate infrastructure, difficult terrain and interference by external groups whose agendas often are at odds with the general welfare of the people.

The U.S. has been the largest provider of aid to Africa for many years. That aid is funnelled through various groups including both private and governmental charities. Much of the food aid is channeled through the World Food Program of the U.N. The trouble with such charity is that it does nothing to solve the cause. It merely treats the symptoms.

The U.S. Milleneum Challenge Corporation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa have formed an alliance focused on helping the small-scale farmers of Africa develop their farming enterprises rather than rely on outside capital to come into the various agricultural areas to develop corporate-scale farming. Part of their focus is to build the necessary infrastructure to allow the small-scale farmers to get their produce to market. It is estimated that 40% of the farm products are lost due to the inability to store properly or to transport food crops.

We take for granted the vast network of paved roads in the U.S. We forget how critical they are to keeping our grocery shelves stocked with an astounding assortment of food products. The realities in Africa are vastly different.