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African Agriculture at Crossroads: Balancing the Needs of Increased Productivity and the Challenges of Sustainability. The Case of Fadama Agriculture in Semi-Arid North-Central Nigeria

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Global Food Insecurity

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Abstract

Africa is threatened by the current global food crisis more than any other region in the world. This has once again raised the question of food security on the continent and increased the call for a change of approach in which smallholders and indigenous knowledge systems will play a pivotal role. The main challenge facing the continent is how to balance the quest for food self-sufficiency and the demands of sustainability. This research assesses the productivity and sustainability of fadama (floodplains) farming systems of North-Central Nigeria. Findings reveal a delicate interaction and negotiation across the formal and informal boundaries where traditional agricultural practices, based on an understanding of the particular physical reality and exploitation of natural synergies, are combined with inputs typical of conventional agriculture. African agriculture thus stands poised at crossroads: whether to abandon tradition in favour of entirely ‘modern’ methods and export markets as often advocated for in certain circles or depend on time tested indigenous knowledge systems and grassroots-defined development vision which combines popular livelihoods with respect for nature’s systems. Drawing on Bruno Latour, the metaphor of ‘hybridisation’ is used to justify a negotiated compromise between official discourses, which promote the use of chemicals, and grassroots reality which relies on nature’s systems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

     Conventional agriculture is used interchangeably with modern agriculture to refer to an “industrialized agricultural system characterized by mechanization, monocultures, and the use of synthetic inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides, with an emphasis on maximizing productivity and profitability. Industrialized agriculture has become “conventional” only within the last 60 or so years (since World War II).”

  2. 2.

     Hausa is a Chadic language belonging to the Afro-Asiatic language family and it is one of the three major languages spoken mostly in Northern Nigeria and across West Africa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Development Planning and Administration, Development Planning Unit, University College London, 34 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, UK

    Jake Dan-Azumi

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  1. Jake Dan-Azumi
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Correspondence to Jake Dan-Azumi .

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  1. , Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sci, Ibn Zohr University of Agadir, Hay Salam, Agadir, Morocco

    Mohamed Behnassi

  2. Research and Development, SW Suite N601, Environmental Protection Agency, Delaware Avenue 1301, Washington, 20024, District of Columbia, USA

    Sidney Draggan

  3. Interdisciplinary School of Health Scien, University of Ottawa, Templeton 43, Ottawa, K1N 6N5, Ontario, Canada

    Sanni Yaya

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Dan-Azumi, J. (2011). African Agriculture at Crossroads: Balancing the Needs of Increased Productivity and the Challenges of Sustainability. The Case of Fadama Agriculture in Semi-Arid North-Central Nigeria. In: Behnassi, M., Draggan, S., Yaya, S. (eds) Global Food Insecurity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0890-7_7

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