Agricultural and rural development (Part 1)

One subject which we must not be tired of writing and reading about, is agricultural and rural development. The terms agricultural and rural may sound identical but they are not.

When we speak of agricultural development, we think of soil and plants. In rural development, we cast our net wider, by embracing other economic and social activities which take place in rural settings.

Our approach to the rural situation has to be two pronged, to cater for the basic or traditional needs and higher needs. The basic need is food security. The higher needs are for the wants and comforts, which go with a civilised or more evolved life.

Our characteristics of western civilisation, has been to rid men of profound thought. In the face of a dire and desperate situation, some men and sometimes women, have come up with solutions to a variety of problems.

Such people usually, do not occupy high office, such as kings, directors or presidents. Practical people like these, are too pre-occupied with using the existing techniques to engross themselves in deep thoughts.

Adam Smith invented modern economics that pays homage to the market and private enterprise. Thomas Malthus confronted the problem of overpopulation while Karl Marx devised a system of getting rid of the capitalist system, which he saw as weighted in favour of the bourgeoisie minority, at the expense of the majority proletariat.

Africa needs such thinkers; Malawi in particular needs crystal ideas about its problems of land shortage, overpopulation and rural poverty. We tend to be bogged down in routine rather than in social and technical innovations.

A few days ago, I saw on BBC Focus on Africa, Rwandans who had been living in Tanzania huddled in tents in their own country. They had been forced back home, a country more densely populated than Malawi.

What was the cause of the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis and some Hutus? Basically, it was not ethnic or racial. It was economic. The Malthusian predictions were at work. I asked myself, just what are we doing to forestall the evils that are bound to follow, if our population doubles? Already, land is not fruitful enough in most parts of the country.

The first thing we should do, is to get better organised and focused. Political parties are more interested in winning elections in the immediate future, than in overcoming economic problems in the medium or long-term. We need institutions and individuals who can ask the following questions and arrive at workable answers.

1. How can agriculture output and productivity be increased in such a manner that it benefits most of the rural population? Both economic and social benefits are important.

2. How can we transform peasant agriculture, from low production to high productivity commercial agriculture? Can high yields be realised while land is fragmented? If so, how?

3. When farming families resist new ideas introduced by agricultural extension workers, are they irrational and stupid? Is it not likely that they understand their needs better than the extension officials?

4. What risks and problems do smallholder farmers face? And how do they try to solve them? Constant monitoring is essential.

5. Do smallholder (peasant) farmers positively respond to economic and price incentives? Are they likely to give up their traditional methods if they are offered better prices for their products?

6. Assuming that raising agricultural production is not enough to eliminate rural poverty, what complementary economic activities should be undertaken right there?

In most regions of the world, there are three types of agriculture: pure subsistence, found mainly in Africa, however, it is gradually giving way to the next stage, which is mixed or diversified agriculture, some crops are grown for food while others are grown for cash. The third commercial agriculture is very scientifically handled and is specialised in nature. If it is largely mechanised, it is in the hands of a fraction of the population.

In Malawi commercial agriculture was introduced at the beginning of colonial rule with the establishment of tea and tobacco estates.