Issues for Africa Today

Africa

Economic Issues

• There is a lack of industry because the colonial powers used Africa as a resource, not as a manufacturer.

• Most economies are based on farming and mining.

Farming and Mining

• Farming is the most important; approximate 75% of African workers are farmers– Practice two kinds of farming

• Subsistence farming—farmers work small plot of land to feed their families

• Commercial farming—large-scale production of cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, and bananas

– Many African nations have rich mineral resources• They export minerals to other countries.

– Nigeria: oil and coal

– Congo and Zambia: copper

– South Africa: gold

Economic Challenges

• 75% of African countries have economies that are specialized– Depend on exporting one or two products– Gambia depends on peanuts– Zambia relies on export of copper

• African economies are sensitive to the rise and fall in world prices.

• A fall in prices hurts economies that depend on the sale of one crop or minera.

Economic Challenges

• African countries are trying to diversify their economies– Senegal became independent in 1960

• It earned more than 80% percent of its money by exporting peanuts

• Today Senegal has other industries such as fishing, fish processing and mining.

• Peanuts account for only 9% of the money Senegal makes from exports.

Economic Challenges

• Another problem that African nations face is feeding growing populations.– Governments are trying to help farmers grow

more using:• Hybrid plants (made by combining different types

of the same plant.• When Zimbabwe farmers used hybrid corn plants

they doubled their harvest.

Social Issues

• Education– Many African children must help on the family farm or

in the market.– When the children go to school the family must

sacrifice – South Africa

• Parents often help to build new schools• Schools are often overcrowded• Students “who couldn’t cram into the desks knelt on the floor

or stood on their toes so as not to miss a word the teacher was saying.” (The Headmaster of the school)

Social Issues

– The number of people who can read and write varies from country to country

– More people have learned to read since independence

– Literacy is the ability to read and write, today about 40% of the people are literate

• Tanzania– At the time of independence 15% were

literate, now 68% are literate

Social Issues

• Health– Life expectancy—how long an average

person will live• Differs from country to country in Africa

– Morocco – b/w 67 and 71 years– Southern Africa—under 50 years– Botswana—40 years

• Cause of lower life expectancy is disease.– Insects spread diseases such as malaria– Viruses spread diseases like measles and AIDS

» AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV, which attacks healthy cells in people’s bodies.

Social Issues

• AIDS is worst in Southern Africa– Poor people cannot afford medicine– Many people have not had access to education, so they

could not learn how to prevent the disease.– Millions of people have died from AIDS, millions more

are sick– African governments are working with the World Health

Organization and other groups to prevent and treat AIDS and other health problems.

The Environment

• 2/3 of Africa is desert

• More and more of Africa is becoming desert

• Forests are being cut down which causes soil to wash away. This reduces the amount of land on which food can be grown.

The Environment

• Science is trying to help African Environment– Irrigation projects, hybrids, and vegetation

that holds water in the ground have all increased crop harvests.

– To fight soil erosion, farmers in Nigeria now plant food crops such as yams in long rows.

– Between rows they plan trees that hold the soil in place