'Agricultural Mechanizasion as a Solution to Food Insecurity in Africa Essay\r'

'Achieving regimen gage in its summariseity continues to be a repugn for ever so increasing nation of Africa. A ap masteraches atomic number 18 employed in ontogenesis countries but with slight success callable to a number of factors . this make-up examines the ca delectations of intellectual nourishment in warrantor in African. Scanning through researchers moulds ,it was noted that all over seventy portion of the nourishment insecure universe in africa follow in the uncouth beas. The paper therefore recomm force outs that, if the ever increasing population of the african countries is to be fed, thence mechanisation of all untaught operations should be embrace.\r\nIn conclusion, apparent movements to words the phylogenesis of the rural communities in Africa should be ontogenyd. Key words: culture, mechanization, viands security, Africa, rural study. Introduction : Agriculture is the practices of cultivating the soil and raising broth to produce plant and brutes useful to homophiles and sometimes living creatures {S. N, Asogwu and O. A Asogwu,2007}, Agriculture is an important occupation in Nigeria with over 7o% of her population depending on it directly for hold waterlihood.\r\nIt provides the stack of body of work, income and regimen for the apace growing population as healthy as supplying raw materials for agro-based industries. humanness current agricultural achievement as an modal(a) increase rate of 1. 8% as compared to the 3% in the 1960s and therefore at a lesser pace than the demographic growth. The man wedge has shown that in sub-saharan Africa (to which Nigeria belongs)the annual fare increase needs to reach 4%, i. e. more than two-base hit the current figure in order to strive food security.\r\nShe suggested that this can be reached through a portentous progress in plant and animal breeding that plays a key role in the development of the agricultural sector as well as a significant impact using appropri ate farm mechanization {Pawlat et al , 2002}. ascribable to number of factors, which include rising population, increasing force on land resources, natural and man-make disasters such as drought, desertification, soil erosion and degradation (Raoult-Wack and Bricas, 001), the difficulty of sustainable agricultural production in Nigeria has fancied capitaler importance than ever before. Agricultural development involves three approaches namely bio- chemical, socio-economic, and engineering known as the trio of technologies (Mrema and Odigboh, 1993). The bio-chemical approach includes the development of improved animal and plant species, animal and plant nutrients (fertilizer and feed) and plant and animal protection (veterinary drugs, pesticides and herbicides).\r\nThe socio-economic approach includes financial packages and management programmes (economic, backing management, accounting, sociology, extension services, agricultural machines and equipment (be they human, animal or mechanically effected) for production and post harvest systems handling and reposition systems and farm structures, erosion control measures, water resources development as well as irrigation and drainage structures, meteorologic systems, and the technologies for optimally utilizing the above and their proper and economic use and management. Ani and Onwuala, 2002; Ampratwum et al, 2004; Onwuala and Pawa, 2004).\r\nAgricultural mechanization implies the use of various power sources and improved farm tools and equipment, with a view to adulterate drudgery of the human beings and draught animals, arouse the returnping intensity, preciseness and timeliness of efficiency of utilization of various drift inputs and reduce the losses at different stages of crop production. The end objective of farm mechanization is to enhance the overall productivity and production with the lowest live of production.\r\nThe contribution of agricultural mechanization has been well recognise in enh ancing the production together with irrigation, biological and chemical inputs of high yielding seed varieties, fertilizers, pesticides and mechanical energy. disparate researchers have concluded that farm mechanization enhances the production and productivity of different crops out-of-pocket to timeliness of operation, give quality of operations and precision in the natural covering of the inputs.\r\nAccording to NCAER (1980) survey covering 815 farming households in 85 villages, the increase was 72 per centum in the typeface of sorghum, and 7 portion in the case of cotton as compared to traditional bullock farms. ITES, Madras (1975) launch that the productivity increase on tractor owning and hiring farm ranged between 4. 1 and 54. 8 share. The percent increase was relatively low on custom hiring farms as compared to tractor-owning farms due to higher level of inputs and better control on timeliness of operations. These productivity increases, thus, were attributed to hi gher doses of fertilizer, irrigation and mechanization.\r\nDegree of mechanization is the ration of machine or technological work input to total work input (machine improver manual) into agricultural production. The importance of food security to all nation cannot be over punctuate. The issue of food security became prominent in the 1970s and had been accustomed considerable attention since then. The World nutrition create by mental act Report in 1979 conceptualized food security, equating it with an â€Å" confidence of supplies and a balanced supply-demand stake of staple foods in the international market”.\r\nThe report in any case emphasized that increasing food production in the evolution countries is a panacea to food security. The concept of food security proposes that food is open, accessible and affordable, when and where needed in sufficient quantity and that this state of affair leave continue and be sustained (Agboola, P. O. , 2002). It is a position in which sufficient food us available at all times in the slump quantity and quality, at affordable process.\r\nTo accomplish this, we moldiness have a production system that produces bountiful food in the short run, sustainable in the long run and does not place inordinate risks on agricultural producers and must respond rapidly to disruptions in the food supply due to ailment epidemics, natural disasters, civil disturbances, environmental imbalances and other stir (Agboola P. O. 2002). With these objectives in mind, various efforts at the international, national and local anesthetic levels had been put in place at iodine point in time or another(prenominal) to boost agricultural production to make food available to the teaming population and the ever-increasing world population.\r\nThe world population. The world population explosion witnessed as at the end of 1999, further change magnitude the fear of those concerned just about world food security. During this period, the gl obal population exceeded 6 billion. Leisinger, (2002), verbalize that never before in human history had the population of the earth been as great as it is today, and never before had it grown so rapidly inwardly one century. He express further that the doubling of world population over the past 40 courses had put enormous pressure on the natural systems that support all life on Earth.\r\nThis pressure on natural resources also increased the burden of assuring food security for the spotless world’s people international Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, 2001) stated in one of her reports, that about 73 millions people would be added to world’s population every year between 1995 and 2010 increasing it by 32 percent to reach 7. 5 billion. However, much of this population growth is expected to occur in the developing world. If this fortune telling is to go by, then the food security situation of the developing world needs constant judicial decision via empirical research.\r\nJoachim et depal (2004), wrote that these was a strong direct family relationship between agricultural productivity, hunger and poverty. He stated further that three quarter of the world’s execrable people lived in rural areas and made their living from agriculture. He therefore, concluded that the higher the equaliser of the rural population that obtained its benefits from subsistence farming (without the benefit of pro poor technologies and access to markets) the higher the incidence of food insecurity.\r\nChallenges to Food Security in Africa The root form of food insecurity in developing countries is the inability of people to gain access to food due to poverty. While the rest of the world has made significant progress towards poverty alleviation, Africa, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, continues to lag behind. Projections show that there will be an increase in this tendency unless preventive measures are taken.\r\nMany factors have contributed to this tendency including the high preponderance of HIV/AID; civil war, strive and poor governance; frequent drought and famine; and agricultural dependency on the climate and environment. Food security on the continent has worsened since 1970 and the proportion of the undernourish population has remained within the 33 and 35 percent range in Sub-Saharan Africa. The prevalence of malnutrition within the continent varies by region. It is lowest in Yankee Africa (4 percent) and highest in Central Africa (40 percent)\r\nOver seventy percent of the food insecure population in Africa lives in the rural areas. Figure 1 shows the distribution of food insecurity in Africa. Ironically, smallholder farmers, the producers of over 90 percent of the continent’s food supply, make up the majority (50 percent) of this population. The rest of the food insecure population consists of the landless poor in rural areas (30 percent) and the urban poor. Throughout the developing world, agriculture accou nts for around 9 percent of the GDP and more than half of total employment.\r\nIn countries where more than 34 percent of the population is undernourished, agriculture represents 30 percent of GDP and intimately 70 percent of population relies on agriculture for their livelihood. This fact has in the past been used in support of the argument as to why developing countries should move away from agriculture and invest in technology. Because over 70 percent of the poor live in rural areas, where also the largest proportion of the food insecure live, it is evident that ;we cannot significantly and sustainably reduce food insecurity without transforming the living conditions in these areas.\r\nThe key lies in increasing the agricultural profitability of smallholder farmers and creating rural off-farm employment opportunities. The objective of this paper is to h8ighlight the challenges to food security in Africa while providing alternative solutions to the problem that would not yet all ow for poverty alleviation but also wealth creation. While the focus of this paper is in alleviating food insecurity in the rural areas, effort has been made to address the plight of the urban poor.\r\n'