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The Beginning

Ten thousand years ago, Agrarian societies began to form around the world. In Africa, pastoralism was the earliest form of agriculture practised, but crop cultivation began to appear in West Africa by 3000 BCE.

The formation of farming societies followed the domestication of plants and animals over thousands of years. Sorghum, wild rice, cowpea, millet, and yam were domesticated in Africa. Maize, potatoes, and cassava were first grown in South America.

Globally, it is not clear what made people settle to practice agriculture. It required more labour, and time and exposed them to risks of famine and crop failure. They could farm only a fraction of the crops they had access to as hunters and gatherers. Their nutritional diversity decreased while using more effort and time to farm and store produce. Anthropologists have debunked the notion that people wanted to practice agriculture to settle down and have time – for arts, and to build communities and cities.

In fact, it seems that people especially in Africa resisted the idea of sedentarism for a long time. Up to the late 1800s, many African communities moved in search of new lands for shifting cultivation or forest gardening and new pastures for their cattle.

Pre-Colonial Food Systems

Before colonialists arrived, Africa had built complex food production systems. We kept livestock, fished, farmed crops, and hunted and gathered wild nuts, fruits, honey, and game meat. From livestock, we got blood, milk, and meat. From farming, we got grains and tubers. Grains would be stored for a rainy day or for use in barter trade.

Starvation during famines was rare – only one-time events due to war, locust invasion etc. The food production system had checks and balances plus back-ups to prevent it.

Even when there was nothing to eat, communities developed complex social and economic ties across tribes to ensure reciprocation and survival in times of need. Here is an example of a complex food security system in the Gusii Community in Kenya.

However, all this was completely destroyed upon the arrival of colonialists.

Colonial-Era Food Systems

The largest shift in African food systems was imposed by colonialists. Colonialists forced the cultivation of cash crops for export on lands that they had grabbed. This eroded the culture of farming food crops and increased reliance on food imports.

The introduction of maize as a subsistence crop replaced the diverse food crops including tubers, legumes, and millet. It also quickly elevated it to staple food, exposing us to food shortages whenever the crop fails, which persists to this day.

Colonization had numerous other consequences on African land, people, development, and agriculture. Check out the resources provided at the end of this article.

Post-Independence (from the 1960s to Present)

Post-independence was a confusing time. In less than 100 years we had gone from living as individual tribes – each with its own systems of government and economic activities – to nation-states within colonial boundaries many of us did not want. Some boundaries tore communities apart.

And somehow we were supposed to be patriotic to these states, educate and feed ourselves, and become “developed.” It was the perfect crucible for the political, economic, social, and cultural conflict that happened in the first 30 years post-independence. Improving our food crop systems took a back seat as many elites decided to prioritize industries like mining and cash crops.

Persistence of Export Crops

Growing export crops is a colonial-era legacy that persists in our food systems. Entire acres of land is put under modern agricultural technologies including irrigation systems – that use precious groundwater– to grow vegetables and fruits for the European market. This system has gone from growing cash crops only to including food and horticultural crops such as peas, cut flowers, and green beans. The cash crops – tea and coffee – continue to be exported in largely unprocessed format denying our farmers additional incomes from value addition.

The colonial era practice of using our best to produce the best for the foreign market while we barely have enough continues.

Export crops are produced under strict quality conditions to meet the EU and US safety standards. Meanwhile, every day there are reports of produce contaminated with high levels of lethal pesticides and herbicides in our local markets. These pesticides are manufactured in the same countries that will not allow them on their own food.

The food crop gaps are met by importing food from other countries. However, reliance on other countries for basic food has left us at risk due to disrupted supply chains and food imperialism.

Borrowing ideas to boost food production

There have been efforts to borrow ideas that had worked elsewhere to improve production. Two of these come to mind- the Green Revolution and the Gene Revolution.

The Green Revolution was built on five technologies – improved crop varieties, irrigation, inorganic fertilizers, and the use of pesticides. This was heralded as the formula for increasing crop production and intensive agriculture.

Proponents of the Green Revolution claim it saved a billion people from starvation. It also led to surplus production that fuelled the industrialization that made Asian countries the economic giants they are today. Critics argue that it was the start of corporate control of agriculture and ownership of food systems by a few.

The Gene Revolution is an attempt to improve productivity through genetic modification and biotechnologies. The most contentious – transgenic modification was introduced to countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Sudan to produce maize, cotton, and cowpea. Kenya has been dancing around the issue, but we have also opened the doors despite a public uproar.

Should we borrow these ideas?

I think there is room for biotechnology and agricultural technologies in African agriculture. But they must be custom-fitted for our context. Historically, we have been a testing ground for ideas – from multilateral loans to managing aid and debt.

We should learn from the failures of these interventions to develop our own from the ground up. Let us reinvent the wheel if we must. We can borrow inspiration but we should not borrow the idea, its owner, and the money it comes with. Collaboratively, Africa’s trading blocs such as the East African Community should be up to the challenge.

The Future

I jokingly say we needed therapy post-independence, maybe in form of a national conversation to heal and think about the future we wanted to create. The opportunity never came. We were thrust into nationhood and the European perception of modernity too fast too soon.

Now we are stuck in a valley. On one side, our traditional ways of food production ensured we had enough – quality and quantity. Diverse, nutrient-rich indigenous foods. On the other side, a promise of “modernity,” large-scale modernized agricultural systems that produce enough for everyone. We try to stretch our hands to grab, but neither side is within our reach.

As we continue trying to figure it out, the years are catching on. Climate change is here, and Africa is bound to get hotter and drier. Her population is about to explode – almost doubling from 1.3 billion in 2020 to 2.5 billion by 2050. What will these people eat? Where will this food grow? How?

PS:

This is an abridged history that barely covers the entire continent or history. Here are additional resources if you would like to read more:

The Story of Agriculture and Food Systems in Africa: Where do we go from here?