Alleviating Poverty and Hunger in Africa
By Jacqueline Yongo-Malcolm
Professor Cindy Casper
Introduction
Twelve Africans die every minute as a result
of hunger. The continent, although rich in
minerals, lacks capability to feed its natives.
It has been argued that several issues hinder
the continent from producing food, and
eradicating poverty and hunger. A massive
number of African households live on less
that $1.25 a day. Poverty and hunger go
hand in hand. You cannot tackle one and
isolate the other. Poor people cannot afford
to purchase three meals a day, let alone buy
balanced diet meals. In my quest to find
ways to eradicate poverty and hunger, my
research provided an insight into convincing
shared ideas that experts across the board
believe are things that can be done all over
the region to ease poverty and hunger.
Expert Opinions
Raymond F. Hopkins in his book, Ending
Hunger in Africa brings to our attention the
lack of sufficient food in Africa. He believes
food aid can help solve the perennial food
shortages that hinder development. It is
irrefutable that people are more energetic
and productive if they are well fed.
Furthermore, He draws us to pictures we
often see on television of malnourished
children which are heart breaking.
On the other hand, he claims that corrupt
government officials are selling the food to
the people who the aid was not meant to
benefit. If this is the case, he thinks that
revenue recovered from selling the food
could be allocated in other development
projects. His source will not be helpful as it
does not provide a clear solution to what the
low income earners in Africa can do to
sustain
th
emselves and lower their dependence on
foreign aid.
Education is the key that open doors to all
possibilities in everyday life. In Harber
Clives Education Democracy and Poverty
Reduction in Africa, he shows us how
when people are educated they are informed
about the ripple effects, their rights, their
opinions get heard and they put forth the
choice of leaders they feel will best address
their issues. Africa is a region with rich
natural resources that has experienced
exploitation between 1975 and 1999.The
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in
the region was -1%. His explanation is that
corrupt leaders misappropriating public
funds for their own benefit, and perennial
conflicts have hugely hindered progress in
Africa. A clear example of violence in Africa
was experienced in Kenya in the year
2008.The aftermath of the skirmishes cost
Kenya its tourist revenues which drastically
went down not to mention the cost of
political unrest in the entire East African
region. The military was put in place to
endure peace; a very expensive move, taking
money that could otherwise be allocated to
more pressing issues such as hiring more
teachers that the country really needs. In
fact, a case in point is Mozambique in 1992
after a politically induced war. The countrys
GDP grew 6.6% in the subsequent four
years. The source is very useful and has a
clear and different examples of clear steps
that have proven positive impact in changing
what the topic intends to address.
In Diop Makktars How Empowering
Women can help End Poverty in Africa,
He quotes Catherine Esther Beecher, as
saying If you educate a woman, you
educate a family/nation. This is a testament
of what is slowly improving of the way
families set up have improved in rural
Africa. Diop informs us that women in
Niger, a country with the highest fertility
rate in the continent (7.6%children per
woman) are educated about family planning.
As a result of this successful break through,
they in turn encourage their husbands to
attend school for the husbands where men
are educated on the importance of having
kids they can afford to take care of. The
campaign has gained popularity across the
country and its fruits are visible in Niger
reduced infant mortality.
Additionally, Diop argues healthy educated
women can be emulated by the younger set
of girls as well as improve their
communities, and to have more women in
leadership positions. He gives an example of
Liberias president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
who overcame adversaries to clinch the male
dominated position not only in Africa but
across the world. At the same time, he points
out that if you have women lawmakers, they
can develop policies to support women and
girls and ease their plight and hence increase
their input in the societys growth. It is only
right to have individuals who live through
the obstacles and struggles propose what
they believe is best to propel women to
success.
Diop shares more findings that Africa has
the highest number of female labour
participation, and yet women are not fairly
compensated for their labour as compared to
their male counterparts. He points out
women put more time in Agricultural work
compared to men and the difference was
women work 467 minutes a day and men
371 minutes. That is a good enough reason
to compensate them and motivate them.
Although the study shows that womens
farmlands produces less as a result of not
having access to farming resources. This
clearly points to inequality in the
Agricultural sector which is mainly male
dominated. If women had access to farming
resources, agriculture produced would be
higher and better, less people will go hungry.
The World Bank is striving to improve
equality in Africa. In 2013 they allocated $1
billon is support of countries in great lakes
with special emphasis on women supported
projects.
This source is very convincing as it points
out the successful progress the region is
making, as a result of projects targeting an
integral figure in the family with very good
credible examples. The approach can surely
help alleviate the challenges of food
scarcity, and at the same time provide
credible solutions through empowering the
most critical and natural hardworking people
that are the women. Africas problems can
ultimately be realized.
In Koffi B. Effahs article Human Factor
Dynamics of Minimizing Extreme Poverty
and Hunger in Africa, He quotes Jack
Scalia saying if you have strong
foundation, you can build or rebuild
anything on it, but if you have a weak
foundation you cant build anything. He
informs us in order to successfully make
headway in alleviating poverty and hunger
in Africa, the region needs particular
emphasis in the three key areas namely:
macroeconomic stability, strengthening of
democratic stability, and economic growth.
He argues that region requires its political
leaders to ensure a peaceful environment for
its native people, by respecting the peoples
choices. If this is realized, then foreign
investors will be eager to invest in the
region, which in turn creates jobs, and
improve their lives. The source is logical
and convincing, by showing how each part
is connected to the other, to collectively
change the dire situation to a positive one.
Method
To clearly understand and see where people
of the region stand on these two issues I did
a field work study. I designed a survey and
distributed it online via Facebook. The
survey consisted of 10 questions, both close
ended, and multiple choices. I specifically
targeted people who lives in the region to
take part in the survey. The reason for this
was they know first-hand what the issues
are, and possibly experienced them.
Additionally, I needed to know if the
participants thoughts agreed or differed
from the experts. The survey was available
for 3 days, I collected a total of 32
responses. Eighteen (56%) of the
participants were male, and fourteen (44%)
were female. In addition,18.75% of the
participants were between the age of 18-29
and 81.25% participants were between the
age of 30-59.
Results.
In general,77% of participants believe
poverty and hunger can be dealt with
entirely. The remainder 23% were neutral or
disagreed that the issue can be eradicated
entirely. Ultimately, the majority of the
participants agreed that the key factors to
ending poverty and hunger were, Education,
Empowering women, International Aid, and
connecting small scale farmers to world
markets. The survey also asked participants
to indicate if they were employed. An
overwhelming 80% were employed and
20% were not. Also I asked the participants
to indicate which social class they fall
under,3% were upper class, 13% upper
middle class, 36% working class and, 12%
were poor.
Poverty and Hunger can be eradicated completely
20
15
10
5
0
Strongly agree Neutral Strongly disagree
Discussion
The field study indicates that while research
has been done, and a blue print has been laid
out on ways to tackle hunger and poverty,
implementation is not easy as it seems on
paper. Some regions in Africa can escape the
unforeseen unpreventable natural disasters
like, famine, and drought. Additionally,
unstable political environment has left the
natives of the region not convinced and
optimistic about seeing the end of the plight.
All the same progress is being made to
slowly but surely the goal will be realized
References
Hopkins, Raymond Ending Hunger in
Africa. Issue: Journal of Opinion, Vol 16
,no.2,1988,pp36-44.http://
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1166956.pdf
Harber, Clive. Education, Democracy and
Poverty Reduction in Africa. Comparative
Education, vol.38, ,no. 3.2002, pp. 267-276.
www.jstor.org/stable/3099516.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3099516.pdf
Diop Makhtar.How Empoering womencan
help end Poverty in Africa.Nasikiliza.
World Bank,28 Jan.2015. Web. 27 Feb.2017
http://blogs.worldbank.org/nasikiliza/how-
empoering-women-can-help-end-poverty-
africa.
Effah,Kofi B.Human Factor Dynamics if
Minimizing Extreme Poverty and Hunger in
Africa. Review of Human Factor Studies,
vol. 12,no 1,June 2006, pp 65-95.
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