Ways to Fight Poverty in Africa

There are many causes of poverty and these vary from one African country to another. However, in most cases there is a combination of contributory factors which are either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic factors include economic and political upheaval, mismanagement, and civil wars, whereas extrinsic ones are associated with natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flood, famine, disease, etc, debts, trade barriers and unfair trade. The main contributing factors in many cases are the lack of accountability, corruption and lack of human care by some African countries where power is being abused and usually is concentrated in the hands of, fewer people who are sometimes are not democratically elected, and most cases based on tribal or ethnic selection. They do not care about the well being of the citizens. In most cases they do not take measures to deal with problem associated with poverty immediately when it starts but allow it to grow until it becomes bigger and too difficult to manage.

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The long civil wars, coupled with land degradation, loss of livestock, loss of wild life, excessive marginalisation of rural communities and agricultural expansion at the expense of indigenous farmers have also played an important role in the suffering of many people in Africa.

The eradication of poverty is a huge task. It will require enormous efforts from the international community as well as from African nations who should lead this operation. African countries must care for their people and this will entail welfare policy based on education, medical care, training people on how to develop their agricultural lands and animal husbandry. The poor should participate democratically.

Transparency of governments, progressive development, management of land, water resources are all problems which need to be tackled. Farmers need to be educated on mechanized farming and the use of land and irrigation systems effectively as well as improving the subsistence farming It is of significant importance that African countries should have agricultural policy for the country as well as the policy for food security.

Education, healthcare and empowerment of the people are essential elements if communities are to flourish and people are to become physically and mentally fit to contribute to the development of their communities.

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The World Bank, the IMF and the G8 wealthy nations should do more to help poor African countries to stand on their feet. They should be helping them with well controlled and supervised programmes set to reduce poverty. They should clear off the debts of countries who cannot afford to pay back their long outstanding debts.

All efforts possible should be made by the international community to stop the civil wars in Africa, which are the main contributing factor to poverty. Contagious diseases such as malaria infections and HIV/AIDS which is endemic in some African countries need to be tackled.

Soil needs to be made healthy by replenishing nutrients with nitrogen-fixing legumes, organic materials, and fertilizers, combined with soil conservation techniques. Add to this access to improved seeds and education on crop management and crop yields can be doubled or tripled.

Women of childbearing age, including non-pregnant women and adolescents, need to be targeted and educated in nutrition and provided with at least micronutrient supplementation. Schools should provide safe, nutritious and quality meals for all children made with locally produced and nutritionally balanced foods.

Farmer organizations need to be established to develop organized systems for storing products and selling them to more distant markets. Local grain storage facilities would help farmers and communities store excess food that could be sold later at better prices.

Reduction if not complete eradication of poverty can be achieved if the international community is committed to this goal. The root causes and problems of poverty need to be addressed if this is to succeed.