Chapter Nineteenth: Difficult Agriculture

  It is undeniable that Farah is the most knowledgeable person Li Ran has met in Somalia. Through a brief conversation, Li Ran also gained some understanding of the underlying situation in Somalia. As for how to save his own country, Farah also had his own ideas.

  Inviting Li Lan, he obviously took Li Lan as a task that can represent the Chinese official, on this point, Li Lan did not say break.

  He had every reason to believe that he was not the first person to hear Farah say these things. Perhaps many, many foreigners before him had heard his words. But those people in front of him did not help Farah at all.

  Li Ran can feel his determination, although he cannot represent China, but he is the one who really wants to change this place and has the ability to change it. Farah was right, meeting Li Ran may be the greatest luck in his life.

  In the early 1960s, many African countries had a food self-sufficiency rate of 98%, but by the 1990s it had dropped to around 50%. From 1973 to now, Africa has been a recipient of UN food aid, especially East Africa's Somalia, plus war, with a self-sufficiency rate of only 20.

  What is the reason why Africa's food is always insufficient?

  Somalia has not benefited from technological advancements and also needs a "green revolution", as science and technology are the primary productive forces, but this is too difficult to achieve in Africa.

  The so-called "Green Revolution" refers to the practice of increasing grain yields through advanced technology, which began in developing countries from the 1960s.

  The Green Revolution has achieved great success worldwide, but unfortunately, like many African countries, Somalia did not benefit from the results of technological progress, 90% of agricultural production still uses simple manual tools, and the level of agricultural mechanization is very low.

  It is not the first time that the United Nations has called on the international community to provide assistance to Africa in terms of food.

  In August 2005, then UN Secretary-General Annan issued a public letter calling on the international community to extend a helping hand and provide 700,000 to 800,000 tons of food aid to Southern Africa to help people there overcome that year's food crisis.

  The situation in the Horn of Africa has been dire since last year, with ongoing violent conflict and severe weather conditions affecting Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan (particularly Darfur) and Uganda, leaving millions facing severe food shortages.

  Another very important factor affecting agriculture in Somalia is the uncooperative weather, with insufficient rainfall to support agriculture.

  47% of Africa's land area has rainfall that is insufficient to support agriculture. In particular, East Africa, Somalia and surrounding countries have annual rainfall that is not enough for farming. On the contrary, they face drought every year.

  In those arid regions of East Africa, most farmers plant drought-resistant crops. However, relying on the heavens for a meal is not secure. According to statistics from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in 1998 only 7% of land in Africa was equipped with irrigation facilities, far below the world average of 19.7%.

  Due to frequent occurrences of drought and locust infestations, grain yields are often zero, leaving farmers with no marketable crops. This directly leads to a lack of investment in agriculture, which in turn means that farmers have no funds to purchase seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, resulting in a vicious cycle of low food production.

  Both natural disasters and man-made conflicts, ethnic clashes, wars have made life difficult for African farmers.

  Apart from natural disasters, African farmers also have to contend with man-made calamities. Since the 20th century, Africa has been one of the most turbulent regions in the world, and more than 40 years ago, about 20 African countries experienced at least one civil war. The war on the one hand destroyed productivity, disrupted agricultural production, and on the other hand increased demand for agricultural products, making the imbalance between supply and demand worse.

  Apart from war, population growth outpacing food production is another kind of "man-made disaster". Statistical data shows that between 1975 and 1985, Africa's population growth rate was 3.1%, while the grain yield increase rate was only 1.9%. In 1975, the per capita arable land in Africa was 0.62 hectares, but by 2000 it had decreased to 0.32 hectares, almost halving.

  In Somalia, the population growth rate is 1.6 but food production has been declining annually.

  Of course, some governments' decision-making errors can also be considered "man-made disasters". The World Bank pointed out that in the 1960s, Africa's industrialization strategy was heavily biased towards heavy industry and light agriculture, with very limited investment in agriculture. Many African countries have long suppressed the purchase prices of agricultural products, severely damaging farmers' enthusiasm for production and greatly hindering the normal development of agriculture. However, this has had no impact on Somalia.

  AIDS adds insult to injury for agriculture.

  According to the UNAIDS 2007 report, there are approximately 33.2 million people worldwide infected with HIV/AIDS, and over 80% of them live in Africa, with Eastern Africa accounting for 30%.

  Somalia is also severely affected, although Muslims have a strict position on male-female relationships, but with the advancement of the times and the flow of refugees, AIDS has also had a serious impact on Somalia.

  For over 20 years, the impact of AIDS on food production in Africa has been far more extensive than people imagined. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations published a detailed exposition of this issue in its 1994 paper "AIDS and Rural Development in Africa".

  African agriculture is a typical labor-intensive industry and more vulnerable to the impact of AIDS.

  Firstly, the increase in the number of farmers falling ill and dying not only directly reduces the labor force but also causes family members taking care of the sick to leave the front line of production. The traditional custom of not doing farm work during mourning periods has also resulted in losses for farmers' income.

  Secondly, the land inheritance systems of some countries are male-centered, and more and more widows have no right to inherit land after their husbands die, making it difficult for them to engage in farming.

  Finally, AIDS has caused the single-crop farming of agricultural products because farmers' illnesses and deaths directly affect the planting of important economic crops such as coffee and bananas that require high labor inputs, turning to plant more drought-resistant crops such as sweet potatoes and corn that require less labor input, which changed the trade pattern of exchanging export-oriented economic crops for food in the past, so much so that they became too poor to afford food.

  Regarding how to change this situation, Farah expressed a few key thoughts of his own.

  Firstly, a good research environment needs to be created. The project aims to cultivate homegrown crop experts in West Africa, thereby overcoming the brain drain of the few scientists available.

  Currently, the brain drain of developing countries has become a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. Even in poor Africa, the brain drain is very serious, with more than 20,000 high-quality talents leaving their home country every year to seek employment in developed countries such as Europe and America.

  Farrah believes that Somali crops will need a generation of farmers who understand local knowledge and local conditions to survive future floods and droughts, rather than experts trained in foreign universities and foreign experimental fields.

  Farah also said that he knew many Somali scientists in the field of plants, but most of them had obtained their PhDs in Europe or America, which meant that after returning to their home country, they did not have professional knowledge of local crops such as sorghum, millet and cassava, so they had to relearn how to cultivate different varieties of crops.

  His idea was to have Li Ran help him train about 40 PhD-level experts in plant breeding over the next five years, who would be able to effectively research local crops and crop diseases.

  PhD training programs include research and work, usually also including 2 years of PhD teaching courses. Farah firmly believes that with the help of China, crop experts who graduated from Somalia can cultivate better crops to cope with drought, diseases and other environmental pressures.

  And he needs Li Lan's sponsorship, teacher resources, funding, scientific research and teaching books.

  In Farah's view, this will help stem the brain drain from Africa. Previously, African experts trained abroad found it difficult to stay in their home countries; they either didn't return or even if they did come back, would eventually seek better opportunities elsewhere.

  Currently, over 100 million farmers in East Africa alone rely on agriculture for their basic economic and nutritional needs, with most agricultural production in sub-Saharan African countries depending largely on rainfall, and small-scale farming households being the norm. In recent years, droughts, environmental degradation and climate change have posed severe challenges to agricultural development in the region. Furthermore, despite three-quarters of Africa's population engaging in agriculture-related activities, investment in agriculture has consistently lagged behind population growth rates over the years, hindering Africa's ability to achieve its economic and social sustainable development goals.

  Agriculture is just one direction of thought for Farah. Li Lan thought he would offer to buy more advanced weapons from him, but what he saw in his words was the cleverness and wisdom of the Somalis. He understood the principle of giving a man a fish versus teaching a man to fish.

  P.S. This chapter is a supplement for yesterday's missing update, and there are two more chapters today. Dear readers, enjoy the read, don't forget to bookmark and vote with your recommendation tickets!