Looming Threats to Africa and Its People: Intensive Food Production and Land-Leasing
An Environmental Article from All-Creatures.org

From

Anteneh Roba, M.D., International Fund for Africa
June 2011

Africa faces another threat caused by intensive animal agriculture, also known as factory farming.
If not stopped, these threats could spell doom for the continent.

(Reprinted with permission of Dr. Roba, originally published in FutureTakes.org, Spring 2011)

Africa, a vast continent, besieged by pestilence, famine, disease and hunger, now faces another threat caused by intensive animal agriculture, also known as factory farming, coupled with a new trend called land-leasing. If not stopped, these threats could spell doom for the continent.

Traditionally, farming in Africa has been small-scale, rooted in agro-ecological methods that respect Earth’s resources and provide a decent living for family farmers. Native bananas, sorghum, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, yams, cassava, millet, numerous traditional vegetables, and other crops have sustained Africa for millennia.

An ever-growing concerted effort is transforming the traditional mode of farming to factory-style food- production methods that emphasize growing ever greater quantities of fewer crop varieties (corn, soybeans, cotton) for export around the world; ever intensifying use of chemical pesticides and petrofertilizers; replacing traditional seeds and animals with genetically modified seeds and animals; and land leasing.

All in the name of helping African farmers produce more food to deal with hunger plaguing the continent.

Read the entire article here (PDF).

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