Potential effects of agric commercialisation on food security
TRADITIONALLY, food production in Africa remained at subsistence level and the farming system was based on shifting cultivation and bush fallow farming. Under these practices, soil fertility was periodically restored to cultivated land by the shifting of cultivation to fresh, rested ground, allowing the recently cultivated land to rest and recover.
The use of external inputs such as chemical fertilizers was minimal, with farmers occasionally applying organic manure. Similarly, animal production was practised as an extensive free-range system in which pastoralists moved with their herds to seek new pastures by following the seasonal rains.
Such systems of agriculture were ecologically appropriate and sustainable under low population densities. However, with increasing numbers of people and animals, more settled cropping patterns were established, and the fallow period was gradually reduced.
As a result, cultivation practices became more intensive; crop rotation, multiple cropping and intercropping were adopted as effective strategies to maximise land productivity without endangering soil fertility. Land-use patterns were complex, involving the production of a wide variety of food crops for domestic consumption; this strategy ensured a varied diet and helped to stabilise food supply against climatic and seasonal shortages.
Gradual monetisation of the economy and a shift in the socioeconomic environment increased the need for cash. For example, there was increased demand for education, better housing, health services and communications. Cash crop production was increasingly adopted by small-scale farmers as they strived to generate cash both for themselves and as foreign exchange for their countries.
In most cases, governments adopted the policy of balancing the production of exportable cash crops with food crops. The governments of several countries of eastern and southern Africa identified maize as the most appropriate food and cash crop for small-scale production, and cropping packages already adopted by commercial growers were promoted. However, in many cases there were unforeseen problems, and the maize production of the small-scale farmers failed to meet consumer demand.
The transition from subsistence farming to cash crop farming offers the opportunity to increase income, but it also harbours considerable risks. These include the food security risks of increased dependence on a limited number of crops, capital risks linked to prices and socio-economic dependence on the lender when credit is obtained. Poor farmers in particular have often failed to reap the benefits of technological change or commercialisation, or have even lost from them.
On the whole, cash crop production can be expected to have a positive impact on nutrition when the income it provides more than offsets not only the food production that is foregone, but also any rise in food prices that may result from an increased demand for purchased food and the freeing of prices.
Changes in cropping patterns resulting from the transition to commercial production may affect household food security. Traditional farmers have generally adapted food production practices to meet environmental, economic and technological limitations. They minimise risk by planting a variety of staple crops that mature at different times during the year. Monocropping may encourage seasonal shortages; traditional intercropping practices provide a cushion during seasons of insufficient food.
In many communities, a major staple is grown as both food and cash crop. If there is an efficient marketing organisation, this crop will be sold, often by the household head (male or female), as the major cash source for the household. The household will meet its food needs partly by home storage, but also by buying back the main staple as required and/or by growing secondary crops such as millets, sorghum, cassava and sweet potato. These secondary crops are used for various purposes such as home consumption, beer brewing, sale in the informal sector, food for poultry or small livestock, food in case of drought (especially cassava) or informal exchange or barter during the rainy season in return for seeds, small livestock, poultry or other goods.
The timing of inputs, including labour, is often crucial to securing maximum yields when hybrid varieties are used; thus not only the quantity of labour but also the seasonal application of labour is important. In many cases, this will result in diversion of labour from other activities, including domestic work, home gardening, child care and regular preparation of well-balanced meals. When adult energy requirements increase, so does food demand, which is likely to be met at the expense of children’s food intake. On the other hand, the nutritional status of overworked adult women stands to be compromised if the food available is insufficient to meet their increased body requirements for energy.