Technology for Sustainability
It is important to improve our ways of life, and it is even more important to make sure these improvements have a sustainable future. Creating new technology and using some old technologies will help us greatly.
Companies are providing technologies to African citizens that include cell phones (the chargers are solar powered because most places do not have electricity), text messaging, the internet, services that provide real-time prices of produces and market changes, internet applications to track commodities, see weather forecasts, and provide online information and tips on livestock and pest and disease control for crops. I think it is great that farmers can use these types of technologies to improve their farms and make more money for their families so they can live life a little more comfortably.
ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) is an organization that also uses technology to help poor countries with way to effectively live off their land. The people at ECHO figure out ways for farmers to use what little resources they have in their harsh environment to grow enough food for themselves and sell to others. I visited ECHO’s farm site in Fort Myers about two years ago and will go again this year. I was able to see how well they can do in different climates with their knowledge and testing evaluations. They teach communities many sustainable, environmental friendly ways of farming that will help them long term. This way Africans do not have to rely on donations and food aid; they can prosper on their own.
One great story about someone who has prospered is told by Samuel Fromartz in The Missing Links: Going Beyond Production. It's about a farmer in Zambia, Africa. The farmer’s name is Justine Chiyesu and he became an entrepreneur in farming. He started out on two hectares of land and worked his way up to 37 hectares. He got involved in the PROFIT program, who taught him new techniques for farming (including how to properly spray his weeds with herbicide) and how to act as a dealer for other farmers in his area. Justine also went straight to mills to sell his products instead of going through a middleman. Then, because of his connection, he also became an agent for commercial farms in his area. He has two cell phones (solar powered), earns thousands of dollars, and hired employees. It’s great to hear about how someone can do so well in such bad conditions. I am glad there are organizations like PROFIT that teach people how to improve their crop yield and better strategies to make a bigger profit. These skills and information spread to others and eventually everyone does better.
There are also organizations that are working with farmers to get them loans for tractors, which helps farmers significantly. One of these companies is Dunavant, a U.S. company. They buy cotton from Zambia and are financing tractors so that cotton production can be increased. Dunavant seems to have a selfish prerogative, but it helps people lives in Zambia.
Some projects are not as self involved. There is a Hausa proverb that says, “The one who plants trees will never be hungry” (page 153). This is a great proverb to live by and that is what the project called “Sowing Seeds of Change in the Sahel” is doing. They are planting trees in areas that were once cleared and they are planting crops between the trees. Some of these trees are acacia trees, which are edible and being imported from Australia. The acacia trees add nitrogen to soil, help crops, and have seeds that are high in protein. Hopefully the people there will benefit from this project to years to come, and climate change doesn't hinder the results.
Plants are not the only things effected by climate change; livestock is effected as well. It is hard to keep animals healthy and productive if there are droughts and harsh, extreme weather. In the article titled Improving Food Production from Livestock, the authors state, “throughout the developing world, up to 1 billion people rely on farm animals for their livelihoods” (page 156). This is huge. Livestock markets are on the rise. Like other countries, Africans have commercial dairy farms, feedlots, and confined stalls, rather than large areas of land for the animals to graze on. Africans have some of the same technologies that more developed nations have, like more mechanized tillage operations and better feed strategies.
Technology is important, but we have to make sure the way in which we use the technology will provide us with a sustainable future.
~Max G.
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