2.1 Sustainable agriculture and rural development - SARD
2.2 Food security in Africa
2.3 An energy transition for SARD and food security
Annex One: Sustainability concerns
Annex Two: Data tables
In June 1992, 41 African nations endorsed the Agenda 21 as a comprehensive international framework and action programme for sustainable development at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Rio de Janeiro).1
[1 The Agenda 21 addresses energy concerns in a number of its parts. Chapter 4 on "Changing consumption patterns" calls for greater energy efficiency and for the use of environmentally sound technologies, with emphasis on the utilization of renewable energy sources. Chapter 7 on "Promoting sustainable human settlement development" refers to the need to promote alternative energy sources for human settlements as a way of reducing the negative impact of energy production and use on human health and on the environment. Chapter 9 on "Protection of the atmosphere" discusses in detail the effects of energy utilization on the quality of air and on climate, and calls for policies and programmes to increase the contribution of environmentally sound and cost-effective energy systems. Energy for agriculture is specifically addressed as a key area for action in Chapter 14 of the Agenda 21 on Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development; it includes recommendations for a programme on "Rural Energy Transition to Enhance Productivity"]
Energy matters are addressed in numerous sections of the Agenda 21 and the following recommendations were made with respect to energy and agriculture:
(a) Not later than the year 2000, to initiate and encourage a process of environmentally sound energy transition in rural communities, from unsustainable energy sources, to structured and diversified energy sources by making available alternative new and renewable sources of energy;(b) To increase the energy inputs available for rural households and agro-industrial needs through planning and appropriate technology transfer and development;
(c) To implement self-reliant rural programmes favouring sustainable development of renewable energy sources and improved energy efficiency.
Accompanying the need for a transition from subsistence energy use, based predominantly on human labour and fuelwood toward supplies that are balanced with effective demand, is the importance of sustainable agriculture and rural development and food security. Both topics are of paramount concern to the African continent and are discussed in this chapter.
Specific actions for sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) were recommended at the FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and the Environment held in 's-Hertogenbosch 15 to 19 April 1991 and were subsequently adopted as Chapter 14 of the Agenda 21. However, African agriculture, which is characterised by low levels of productivity relative to population growth, and frequently accompanied by human induced degradation and drought presents special challenges not encountered in other regions.
Sustainable agriculture and rural development has been defined by FAO as:
"......the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of the human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable."
The goals, strategies and tools of SARD were developed in the light of the need to feed an additional 3.2 billion people by the year 2025 and the growing degradation of the natural resource base arising from unsustainable farming and land-use practices. Its goals are to:
· improve food security by ensuring an appropriate and sustainable balance between self-sufficiency and self-reliance;· promote employment and income generation in rural areas, particularly focusing on poverty alleviation;
· conserve natural resources and protect the environment.
In Africa, these goals are not easily attainable over the short or medium-term. High population densities relative to productive capacity, landlessness, malnutrition and extreme poverty will inevitably lead to degradation of the natural resource base unless special measures are taken to improve levels of training and education, raise incomes, and promote investment.
During the period 1980-90, approximately 4.1 million hectares of land were deforested each year, about 18 per cent of the total major cause of this loss arises from smallholders converting the land to agricultural purposes. Timber production is a relatively minor source of forest loss. However both sources create significant losses of biological diversity which has important economic value. In some cases, changes in microclimate are also observed.
In 1990, of a total of 187 million hectares of agricultural land, nearly 121 million hectares were considered to be affected by human-induced degradation such as wind or water erosion, or chemical or physical degradation.
It has been estimated that about 130 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in areas where fuelwood consumption outpaces the natural regenerative capacity of the forest.2 In such circumstances, the degradation is compounded by greater reliance on energy sources such as dung or unused plant material which would normally play an important role in maintaining soil fertility and structure for future production.
[2 Concise report on the World: Population situation in 1993. United Nations]
In addition to these, and other problems related to environmental degradation, economic performance in agriculture has generally been dismal. During the period 1965-1980, agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa grew at a rate of 1.8 per cent p.a. against population growth rate of 2.7 per cent.3 During the 1980s agricultural growth declined further against an increasing population growth rates (1.4 per cent and 3.1 per cent resp.), compounding land degradation, food shortfalls and food insecurity.
[3 A strategy to develop agriculture in Sub-Saharan African and a focus for the World Bank by Kevin Cleaver. World Bank, 1993. p.23.]
While production gains have been realized in some African countries and the rate of foreign direct investment has increased in recent years, there remains much to be done.
The elements of sustainability, many of which have important information and technology components, are not easily adapted to the constraints faced in Africa, which is starting from a low base. For example, Africa's average annual fertiliser use is only 20 kgs per hectare against a world average of 96; its cropland is only 6 per cent irrigated against a world average of 17 per cent. Similarly the average number of tractors and harvesters is below that of the world and other regions.
To increase production in African agriculture will require, without question, breaking energy bottleneck that currently exists at all levels. For example, at the farm level soil nutrient mining (i.e. extracting nutrients without replacing them) is directly related to energy use and sustainability. Soils without sufficient nutrients to produce good crops lead farmers to search for new lands to cultivate and, often, deforestation. On the other hand, the availability of organic and mineral fertilizers present highly cost effective sources of energy and plant nutrition but often involve costs (either in labour or cash) that exceed the capacity of the farmer to use them effectively.
Similar concerns can be observed in the use of pesticides and processes such as soil salinization, loss of biological diversity, desertification and water pollution.
At the national level, government policies often promote energy availability in urban areas but not rural ones. Thus, due to a lack of access to energy, farmers either cannot prepare and cultivate their land properly or cannot harvest, store and process their yield to maximize return. This leads them to engage in highly inefficient and unsustainable practices such as shortened fallow periods, inadequate cultivation, or excessive use of dung or fuelwood for cooking food or processing output.
Action to address such sustainability concerns must focus on at least four areas:
· Adjusting policies to promote environmentally sound and productive technologies. This involves reducing the role of governments in cases where market mechanisms function effectively, seeking to promote prices that reflect the full sustainability costs of production, and, where appropriate, adopting policies that promote environmentally sound and sustainable production practices;· Strengthening human resources and institutional capacity to conduct research and extension, to better manage natural resources and to maintain an equilibrium between the productive capacity of the land and the demands that are placed on it;
· Improving the use of cost effective inputs such as pesticides and fertilizers by supporting them with integrated pest management, integrated plant nutrition, and appropriate mixes of improved and local varieties of genetic material;
· Conserving natural resources including the soil, water and vegetation based on holistic management principles.
Putting SARD into practice in Africa requires a number of simultaneous actions by governments, districts and local communities, not the least of which are training, institutional strengthening, and improving the information base.
For rural energy, more than any other factor, is the need to increase the overall quantity of and access to all types of energy supplies in rural areas, within the context of environmentally sound and sustainable development. Success in this will require establishing institutional linkages and coordinating mechanisms between the development of rural and urban energy to avoid intensifying land degradation and pollution.
Africa has more countries with food security problems than any other continent.4 Two-thirds of all countries with food security problems are in Africa, where gross domestic product has declined for six consecutive years. Of the 44 countries with poor or critical food security, 30 are in Africa. Present trends would mean that the number of chronically undernourished in Sub-Saharan Africa would rise from 180 to 300 million by the year 2010.
[4 Assessment of the current World Food Security Situation and Recent Policy Development CFS: 94/2, Committee on World Food Security, 22-25 March 1994, FAO.]
The FAO Committee on World Food Security, the FAO Council and the FAO Conference of 1983 defined as ultimate objective or goal:
"to ensure that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food they need". At the global level, food security has three specific aims: "ensuring production of adequate food supplies; maximizing stability in the flow of supplies; and securing access to available supplies on the part of those who need them".
In many parts of Africa, a limited base of high potential land excludes the option of significantly expanding the area under cultivation. Thus, assuming that an appropriate enabling policy setting is in place, achieving food security in most African communities requires increasing the productivity and sustainability of the farming system. This involves increasing intensification of production, diversification and system resilience.
Intensification involves using land, water and labour more efficiently, increasing the use of technologies such as IPM and IPNS to control pests and maintain soil fertility, intercropping, terracing and other techniques to control erosion.
Diversification involves matching farm production to the prevailing agro-ecological conditions in the area. It does not mean that all production units must be diversified, some may and probably should contain, highly specialized production units or crops that generate greater profits than typical subsistence crops.
Successful intensification and diversification will increase system resilience and the ability of households and community to manage risk and reduce their food insecurity. Resilience also implies greater stability in farm income, reduced crop and livestock loss during drought or flooding, and distributes the demand for labour more evenly throughout the growing season.
FAO has recently incorporated the three elements of its broadened concept of food security - availability, stability of supply and access - into an index of household food security. The Aggregate Household Food Security Index (AHFSI) calculates the food-gap between the undernourished and average national requirements, the instability of the annual food supply and the proportion of undernourished in the total population. The index ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 representing complete, risk-free, food security and 0, total famine.
FAO categorized the food security situation an index rating below 65 as "critical". Between 1991-93 the following African countries were in this category: Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia and Zambia. African countries with "low" food security, an index reading between 65 and 75, included Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire and Zimbabwe.
On the global level the 1993 AHFSI ratings of 93 developing countries show nearly 75 per cent of those countries experienced a slight deterioration in food security compared to 1992. In many African countries the index rating fell by more than 2 per cent between 1988-1990 and 1991-93, excluding emergency food aid. These countries were: Botswana, Central African Republic, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo and Zimbabwe. Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius and Zambia suffered even greater declines in food security. In contrast, the AHFSI index placement improved by 2 per cent or more during the same survey period in Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Sudan and irrespective of their 1994 AHFSI rating. No Sub-Saharan African country has a high-level food security rating (over 85).
The imperative of increasing food security in Africa calls for important and fundamental changes in the relationships between government institutions and rural communities. Decentralisation, empowerment (i.e. control over planning and allocation of financial resources), and clear and equitable property rights are all essential components. But governments will continue to have an important role in establishing sectoral policy for many areas, especially the energy transition. Special consideration is needed to policies that provide incentives to invest in energy technologies and supplies that are sustainable and cost effective, even if it requires a brief period of financial support.
During the last five years a new context for action has emerged in the international community, which calls for an energy transition in both developing and industrialized countries. For the OECD countries this transition takes form in the context of high consumption patterns that involve net resource transfers from South to the North, consume excessive resources and/or generate pollution.
In the African countries, a transition to sustainable energy systems is needed to accelerate the growth of basic food production, harvesting and processing. However, breaking the current energy bottleneck must also be sustainable (viz. environmentally sound, socially acceptable and economically viable). Such a transition involves a commitment to long-term developmental goals and requires innovative policy and technological solutions.
For Africa, an energy transition would be characterized by a move from the present levels of subsistence energy usage based on human labour and fuelwood resources, to a situation where household, services and farming activities use a range of sustainable and diversified energy sources. Obvious benefits are greater resilience in the production system, higher productivity, improved efficiency and higher incomes to farmers. Environmental degradation, driven primarily by poverty, would be minimized.
The investment required to make such a transition would not be significantly different from that required for conventional approaches. However, the process of identifying needs and promoting investment in a range of technological options would be considerably different. The new energy situation would offer opportunities to reinvigorate the situation in many African countries which continue to cope with insufficient rural energy supplies. Among the problems are the following:
· Price policies rarely reflect the energy needs of rural populations;· Energy plans and agricultural programmes are not linked;
· Energy requirements for agro-activities are seldom quantified;
· Energy policies and plans in most countries do not focus on the agricultural and rural sectors, except occasionally, on an aggregate basis;
Unfortunately, the energy transition in rural areas will not occur under a "business-as-usual" situation. A concerted effort is needed on the part of the many actors influencing energy supply and demand patterns. One challenge is to reduce the barriers facing rural energy development which arise from a lack of policy and programme coordination between the rural and agricultural sectors, and the energy sector institutions.
The rural sector continues to remain outside the energy assessment and planning efforts which are normal practice for industry, commerce, transport. This is due, in part, to the small impact rural energy has on the national energy balance. Because of their meagre energy consumption and poor data, especially in the African context, the important role agriculture plays as a source of food and fibre, for foreign exchange and the relatively large percentage of GDP that is derived from the agricultural and rural sector, is ignored.
The dispersed and often non-monetized nature of rural energy also contributes to its neglect in planning and investment. Energy authorities rarely have an institutional or operational presence in rural areas and only a few agriculture and rural development programmes deal explicitly with rural energy requirements. This is due, in part, to lack of technical capability. However, a change in mindset is also needed among policy makers to recognize the potential economic and social gains to be realized from increasing energy supply in rural areas. These gains will translate into improved use and management of land resources by allowing more efficient use of resources and less degrading land-use practices such as fuelwood use.
National agricultural and rural development authorities, normally without any mandate regarding energy matters, are often incapable of negotiating their energy requirements with electricity utility companies and energy authorities. Thus, a "vacuum" of responsibility and lack of guidance for energy interventions in rural areas seems to exist in most countries. No institution is actually "in charge" of energy for development of the rural and agricultural sector. This leads to low allocation of resources and investment for rural development and agricultural activities vis-à-vis other sectors of the economy. Since no single institution, either governmental, local or private could alone cope with all issues involved, a political interest, coupled with effective inter-institutional cooperation and collaboration is required.
Promoting food security by raising agricultural productivity and sustainable production systems will inevitably involve increases in energy inputs for water supply and management, plant nutrients, and agro-processing, to provide community lighting and drinking water, for cultivation. Consistent with the SARD framework mentioned earlier in this report is the need to shift the emphasis from single issue solutions to more integrated, sustainable approaches to development.
For example, pesticides alone are not sufficient or economically cost-effective in controlling most pest problems. Strategies now exist for many crops which involve understanding the pest life cycle, economic damage thresholds and the effects of cultivation practices which can greatly reduce or even eliminate the need for regular pesticide applications. IPM is an effective way of reducing production costs and avoiding the associated risk of pollution and contamination.
Similar evidence of the benefits from integrated approaches exists for mineral fertilizers. Integrated plant nutrition strategies that use organic materials, leguminous crop rotation, and cultivation practices to maintain the optimal balance of soil structure and plant nutrients for agriculture are more beneficial economically to farmers than solely relying on mineral fertilizers.
In both examples above, environmental protection and cost efficiency can be realized.
The availability of adequate water resources for agriculture is essential for increased production. From 1960-1980, water resources in Africa have declined from 16.5 million cubic metres per caput to 9.4. By the year 2000 this is expected to 5.1. It is projected that by the end of the 1990s six out of seven east African countries and all five north African countries bordering the Mediterranean sea (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) will face acute water shortages; with six of the countries having less than 1 million cubic metres per person. However, efficient use of this resource in Africa does not imply large scale, energy-intensive irrigation schemes. Small pumps have had an important beneficial effect on irrigation in some African countries of vegetable and even rice production. Where surface water is available this technology represents a well distributed and energy efficient option.
Previous experience in Africa has shown that the way in which the water resource is made available, both its price and mode of delivery, will determine whether the resource is used sustainably. Thus irrigation schemes should follow the principles established by the International Action Programme on Water and Sustainable Agricultural Development which takes into account the planning, development and management of water resources in an integrated manner.
Also important is the potential for biomass energy conversion technologies. Residues from wood and agro-industries, purposely grown biomass and municipal solid wastes may play a major role in many African countries, (n.b. also discussed in other chapters of this study). The economic and social assessment of these options is needed to avoid disrupting employment and resource use. Local and global environmental benefits of biomass energy conversion must also be considered.
As a result of UNCED, efforts are underway to develop national Agenda 21's. These provide valuable entry point for countries to fully integrate rural energy requirements and potentials into their energy and SARD strategies. They involve multidisciplinary and convergent actions at both national and local levels, which draw together energy, agricultural and environmental knowledge, experience and policies.
National and district rural energy strategies are needed to provide a common framework and plan to direct investment and pull together the efforts of various ministries such as Agriculture, Energy, Forestry, Planning and Agrarian Reform. NGOs, local community groups, and the private sector have an important role to play in such initiatives.
There are signs in some African countries such as Ghana, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe that new institutional and energy planning approaches are gradually emerging to improve the availability of rural energy supply for rural development.
Awareness of the constraints facing national and local authorities when trying to solve energy problems in rural areas is being increasingly converted into actual action. Decentralization of the decision making process and of energy production, enhanced social participation, institutional linkages, and the entry of new technologies are only some of the elements which will directly and indirectly influence a mobilization of efforts towards achieving Food Security and SARD.
|
Energy sources |
Sustainability concerns |
||
|
|
Environmental |
Social |
Economic |
|
Biomass fuels |
Land use conversion |
Adequate supply |
Operation and maintenance |
|
Nutrient mining |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Declining yields |
|
|
Erosion |
|
|
|
|
Loss of biodiversity |
|
|
|
|
Conventional fuels |
Air pollution |
Equitable distribution |
Foreign exchange costs |
|
|
Access |
Return on investment |
|
|
Solar |
Selected indirect impacts from panel production |
|
Rate of return |
|
|
|
Operation and maintenance |
|
|
|
|
Higher investment cost |
|
LAND AREA AND USE, 1979-91
|
|
Land Use (000 hectares) |
||||
|
|
Land Area |
Population Density, 1993 |
Cropland |
Permanent Pasture |
Forest and Woodland |
|
|
|
% Change Since 1979-81 |
% Change Since |
% Change Since |
|
|
WORLD |
13,041,713 |
427 |
1.8 |
2.4 |
(7,.) |
|
AFRICA |
2,963,951 |
237 |
5.0 |
0.9 |
(3.8) |
|
ASIA |
2,678,997 |
1,229 |
1.3 |
9.5 |
(4.9) |
|
EUROPE |
472,740 |
1,086 |
(1.8) |
(3.7) |
0.9 |
|
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA |
2,137,681 |
190 |
(0.7) |
1.0 |
0.3 |
|
SOUTH AMERICA |
1,752,925 |
177 |
12.7 |
4.4 |
(5.1) |
Source: World Resources 1994-95 A Guide to the Global Environment, pages 284-285
FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, 1980-92
|
|
Index of Food Production |
Average Yields of Cereals |
Average Yields of Roots and Tubers |
|||
|
|
Percent Change Since |
Percent Change Since |
||||
|
Total |
Per Capita |
|
|
|||
|
1980-82 |
1990-92 |
1980-82 |
1990-92 |
1980-82 |
1980-82 |
|
|
WORLD |
103 |
127 |
101 |
105 |
22 |
5 |
|
AFRICA |
102 |
129 |
99 |
94 |
0 |
14 |
|
ASIA |
104 |
148 |
102 |
121 |
31 |
9 |
|
EUROPE |
102 |
107 |
101 |
104 |
17 |
10 |
|
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA |
102 |
112 |
101 |
96 |
13 |
11 |
|
SOUTH AMERICA |
104 |
134 |
102 |
108 |
17 |
10 |
Source: World Resources 1994-95 A Guide to the Global Environment, pages 292-293
NATIONAL PROTECTION OF NATURAL AREAS, 1993
|
|
All Protected Areas (IUCN categories I-V) |
||
|
Number |
Area (000 ha) |
Percent of Land Area |
|
|
WORLD |
8,619 |
792,266 |
5.9 |
|
AFRICA |
704 |
138,893 |
4.6 |
|
ASIA |
2,181 |
121,161 |
4.4 |
|
EUROPE |
2,177 |
45,533 |
9.3 |
|
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA |
1,752 |
263,250 |
11.7 |
|
SOUTH AMERICA |
667 |
114,596 |
6.4 |
Source: World Resources 1994-95 A Guide to the Global Environment, pages 316-317
POPULATION, LABOUR AND LAND
|
|
Cropland |
Average Annual Population Change (percent) |
Average Annual Growth of the Labour Force (percent) |
||||
|
Total Hectares (000) |
Hectares Per Capita |
|
|
||||
|
|
1991 |
1991 |
1980-85 |
1990-95 |
2000-2005 |
1981-90 |
1991-2000 |
|
WORLD |
1,441,573 |
0.27 |
1.75 |
1.68 |
1.43 |
|
|
|
AFRICA |
181,620 |
0.27 |
2.91 |
2.93 |
2.70 |
|
|
|
ASIA |
457,505 |
0.14 |
1.91 |
1.78 |
1.39 |
|
|
|
EUROPE |
138,024 |
0.27 |
0.31 |
0.27 |
0.27 |
|
|
|
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA |
271,798 |
0.69 |
1.68 |
1.65 |
1.29 |
|
|
|
SOUTH AMERICA |
115,222 |
0.38 |
2.15 |
1.67 |
1.35 |
|
|
Source: World Resources 1994-95 A Guide to the Global Environment, pages 268-269; 294-295
AGRICULTURAL INPUTS, 1979-91
|
|
Irrigated Land as a Percentage of Crop Land |
Average Annual Fertilizer Use (kilograms per hectare of crop land) |
Pesticide Consumption |
Tractors |
Harvesters |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Percent Change Since |
Percent Change Since |
|
|
|
1979-81 |
1989-91 |
1979-81 |
1989-91 |
1989 |
1979-81 |
1979-81 |
|
WORLD |
15 |
17 |
81 |
96 |
X |
21 |
12 |
|
AFRICA |
6 |
6 |
18 |
20 |
X |
22 |
47 |
|
ASIA |
29 |
33 |
67 |
123 |
X |
62 |
46 |
|
EUROPE |
10 |
12 |
225 |
192 |
X |
23 |
2 |
|
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA |
10 |
10 |
91 |
87 |
X |
3 |
(1) |
|
SOUTH AMERICA |
7 |
8 |
45 |
44 |
X |
27 |
18 |
Source: World Resources 1994-95 A Guide to the Global Environment, pages 268-269; 294-295
CO2 EMISSIONS FROM INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES, 1991
|
|
Carbon Dioxide Emissions |
Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions |
|
Total1 |
|
|
|
WORLD |
22,672,832 |
4.21 |
|
AFRICA |
671,600 |
4.21 |
|
ASIA |
6,671,525 |
2.11 |
|
EUROPE |
4,113,771 |
8.20 |
|
NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA |
5,764,359 |
13.59 |
|
SOUTH AMERICA |
594,986 |
2.00 |
1 Includes: Solid; Liquid; Gas; Gas Flaring; Cement ManufactureSource: World Resources 1994-95 A Guide to Global Environment, pages 362-363
Growth rate of irrigated area, 19961-90
|
Region |
1961-71 |
1971-81 |
1981-90 |
|
(percent/year) |
|||
|
Africa |
1.81 |
3.96 |
2.31 |
|
Latin America |
2.33 |
3.12 |
1.42 |
|
West Asia and North Africa |
1.35 |
0.26 |
1.47 |
|
Far East |
2.15 |
2.53 |
2.18 |
|
China |
2.65 |
1.83 |
0.39 |
|
India |
2.06 |
2.56 |
1.08 |
|
All developing countries |
2.17 |
2.09 |
1.24 |
|
All developed countries |
1.91 |
3.11 |
0.80 |
|
World |
2.10 |
2.36 |
1.12 |
Source: P.A. Oram and B. Hojjati, "The Growth Potential of Existing Agricultural Technology", paper presented at the Roundtable Meeting on Population and Food in the Early 21st Century: Meeting Future Food Needs of an Increasing World Population, Washington, D.C. 14-16 February, 1994.
Average fertilizer consumption per hectare, 1961-63 and 1988-90
|
Region |
Fertilizer Consumption |
|
|
1961-63 |
1988-90 |
|
|
|
(kilograms of NPK/hectare) |
|
|
Africa (maize) |
5.25 |
19.14 |
|
Central America (maize) |
9.76 |
63.45 |
|
South America (maize) |
11.29 |
54.19 |
|
Africa (rice) |
1.10 |
2.47 |
|
South America (rice) |
13.16 |
94.29 |
|
South Asia (rice) |
8.18 |
73.28 |
|
East Asia (rice) |
8.59 |
77.78 |
|
West Asia, South Asia, and North Africa |
5.49 |
62.43 |
|
China |
9.41 |
268.71 |
|
India |
2.75 |
69.47 |
|
All developing countries |
6.51 |
82.14 |
|
All developed countries |
44.80 |
116.19 |
|
World |
25.65 |
98.08 |
Source: P.A. Oram and B. Hojjati, "The Growth Potential of Existing Agricultural Technology", paper presented at the Roundtable Meeting on Population and Food in the Early 21st Century: Meeting Future Food Needs of an Increasing World Population, Washington, D.C. 14-16 February, 1994.Note: NPK is nitrogen, phosphate and potassium.
Actual and Potential Irrigation in Africa by Region
|
Region |
Potential '000 ha |
Irrigated '000 ha |
Irrigated % of arable |
Irrigated % of total |
Irrigated % of potential |
|
North |
7,660 |
5,660 |
24.2 |
40.9 |
73.9 |
|
Sudano-Sahelian |
5,340 |
2,630 |
9.0 |
19.0 |
49.3 |
|
West |
8,730 |
1,530 |
4.1 |
11.1 |
17.5 |
|
Centre |
7,840 |
470 |
2.5 |
3.4 |
6.0 |
|
East |
5,860 |
600 |
2.4 |
4.3 |
10.2 |
|
Southern |
6,600 |
2,950 |
9.9 |
21.3 |
44.7 |
|
Total |
42,030 |
13,840 |
8.5 |
100.0 |
32.9 |
Based on country-provided information compiled through the FAO database AQUASTAT. May include some double counting of water resources.
