Agriculture: Regional Wisdom and Ways

Adina

Agriculture plays an increasingly large role in Africa, the world’s second largest and second most populous continent. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, there are roughly 265 million undernourished people in Africa. Fortunately, agriculture is the most effective way to both reduce hunger and poverty but promote economic growth. In Ethiopia, Adina, who is a widowed mother of two, is affected by HIV/AIDS and has very limited resources to feed her family. Through USAID, and other partners Adina was able to get a loan to build a small garden in her backyard. A vegetable garden that uses drip irrigation was built and she is now able to sell her produce to the market. This program has been replicated all over Ethiopia to over 3,000 families in Addis Ababa and 1,500 in the Bahir Dar.

Brazil’s cerrado

For much of the last century, Brazil’s cerrado has been largely unfit for agriculture and farming. Cerrado, which means “closed” or “inaccessible”, has always been thought of as an area useless for farming, has begun transformed into one of the largest farming areas in the world. But within the last 20 years, scientists have figured out that with proper amounts of phosphorous and lime to the soil, it can be made fertile enough for farming.

The results seem to indicate a success. Between 1996 and 2006 the total value of the country’s crops rose from 23 billion reais ($23 billion) to 108 billion reais, or 365%. Brazil increased its beef exports tenfold in a decade, overtaking Australia as the world’s largest exporter. It has the world’s largest cattle herd after India, and the largest exporter of poultry, sugar cane and ethanol. Over the next quarter century, we will see Brazil lead the world in almost after other agricultural category, drastically improving the lives of its citizens and growing food for the rest of the world.

Lin Lianhua

Even though there has been a huge migration of rural Chinese to the big cities along the coast, there still are millions of people who rely on agriculture to make a living. For them, a small improvement in agricultural practice or a small loan to let them invest in their land goes a long way. Just like in other countries, aid agencies have assisted rural families in securing rights to own land. Lin Lianhua, who is from Fujian Province, spends her time farming a small piece of land with her husband.

Through the help of an aid agency, the government owned land was allocated to the Lianhua family. With this, the family gained the ability to decide what to grow without the threat of government seizure. With the new land, the family decided to invest in growing bamboo; which can take up to 4 years to mature. With the price of bamboo increasing they have seen their net income grow. They have since been able to open up a family convenience store and take care of their parents. They even leased their land for other families to farm on.

L’agriculture sur le Champs-Elysees

Agriculture plays as very important role in Europe and the European Union. 90% of the European Union is covered by rural areas. The agricultural industry is even more important as it drives some of Europe’s biggest economies, including France’s. This past May, over 55,000 French farmers came out to the main Parisian thoroughfare to highlight the importance of French agriculture. Organized by the Young French Farmers union, Parisians were given an opportunity to see all of what the country has to offer; from crops and produce to livestock and animals.

Overnight, 8,000 plots of earth were brought in, as well as 150,000 plants and 650 fully grown trees. Visitors were given the opportunity to stroll through to see first hand how agriculture is important to the French economy and how local products help to support French farmers. Hopefully this will inspire other countries to be more organically and locally focused.

The Fertile Crescent

Known as the Fertile Crescent, the area that lies within the present day countries of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian Territories was the birthplace of farming more than 10,000 years ago. Early humans settled in this region to take advantage of the rich soil. Every year, floods from the Euphrates, Tigris and other rivers brought nutrients to the surrounding areas. Populations soon grew exponentially and civilizations expanded around to neighboring Africa and Asia.

Now, agriculture has been making a comeback in the Middle East, but in a different way. With sustainable agriculture, families in rural areas are able to grow crops in their backyard using advanced water and irrigation systems. This gives low-income families the ability to grow crops for both sustenance and to make a living. We have seen projects prop all over Middle East and with every success leads a new idea that can be implemented somewhere else. Like the saying goes, “If I can be done in Africa, it can be done anywhere”.