Article

2007-12-02 Africa Subsaharan

Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts

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Posted by Steve White 2007-12-02 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11135 views ] Top

#1 Ignoring "experts" - particularly those involved in tranzi organizations - usually works best.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2007-12-02 00:20|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2007-12-02 00:20|| Front Page Top

#2 a lesson for us to use as we work to suppress terrorism around the world

Maybe I am dense, can you elaborate in specifics?
Or did I miss the news circa 2002 about Malawi teeming with terrorists?

Posted by Spike Uniter 2007-12-02 03:17|| 2007-12-02 03:17|| Front Page Top

#3 Another small fact seldom mentioned is that the agricultural industry in Malawi and other regional countries has been aided over the past several years by farmers who have relocated from Zim. The village headman and his how swinging garden club should not be discounted, but they don't export much behond the last hut on the right. Serious farming on a large, multi hector scale produces exports which feed neigbors.

Posted by Besoeker 2007-12-02 03:29|| 2007-12-02 03:29|| Front Page Top

#4 Something to it, Besoerker. Also, Mozambique is doing rather well, partially due to the circumstance that they took an influx of former Zimbabwean farmers with open arms.

Posted by Spike Uniter 2007-12-02 03:36|| 2007-12-02 03:36|| Front Page Top

#5 Mozambique interesting factoid:
Catholic 23.8%, Muslim 17.8%, Zionist Christian 17.5%, other 17.8%, none 23.1%

Posted by Spike Uniter 2007-12-02 03:42|| 2007-12-02 03:42|| Front Page Top

#6 Barb is right. Ignore the "experts" and you will do better 90% of the time.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-12-02 07:29|| 2007-12-02 07:29|| Front Page Top

#7 Zionist Christian

Hah?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2007-12-02 08:53|| 2007-12-02 08:53|| Front Page Top

#8 Agribusiness is as fickle a business as they come.

Malawi is correct in the short term, if they are lucky. But in the long run they face disaster for a simple reason not mentioned in the article: inefficiency.

Europe in the 14th Century was covered with tiny sustenance family farms. When the Black Plague hit, farms were consolidated. This meant that farmers had to hire people to work the land, and grew so many crops that they could sell the excess. Efficiency jumped and everyone became prosperous. Unemployment and prices were low, wages were high, and capital wealth was available for other uses.

Malawi, for its part, is having a bumper crop not just because of fertilizer, but because of rain. Without the rain, their farms are too small to come up with alternative means of watering their crops. Means that would be available to larger farms that could afford them.

So this means that when the unusual rains stop coming, one of two things will happen. Either their government will bankrupt itself trying to provide subsidized water along with the fertilizer; or there will be widespread food shortages again.

Had they listened to the experts, a lot of farmers would have gone out of business. Hard on them in the short term. But farmland would have been consolidated, and they wouldn't be so reliant on rain to water their crops in the future.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-12-02 10:04|| 2007-12-02 10:04|| Front Page Top

#9 Maybe I am dense, can you elaborate in specifics?
Or did I miss the news circa 2002 about Malawi teeming with terrorists?

What the salmon-colored one is saying is that locally-derived measures may work better than programs imposed by outside bureaucracies.

It also might be applicable to fighting terrorism, in that improving local conditions and involving local expertise could be more effective against terrorism and the spread of Islamic radicalism than waiting until the fit hits the shan.

Mold doesn't grow where it's sunny and dry.

Posted by Pappy 2007-12-02 10:41|| 2007-12-02 10:41|| Front Page Top

#10 I'll elaborate, though Pappy encapsulates my views nicely.

Malawi isn't teeming with terrorists -- today. But a failed state is a state that terrorists can move into, insuinuate themselves, and work to co-opt. Failed states are ripe for the picking.

That Malawi has found a way to succeed is a good thing, not just for them but for us. Perhaps the rain won't come next year, perhaps fertilizer will be too expensive, but while it lasts the success allows Malawi to feed their people and become prosperous. That keeps terrorism away.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2007-12-02 12:57|| 2007-12-02 12:57|| Front Page Top

#11 Steve, Pappy, you have a point there... prosperity may keep terrs at bay in the Malawian context (or regional context--where terrorism translates into formation of guerilla groups).

However, in MME context and in SE Asia, or within muslim diasporas elsewhere, the trend seems to be the opposite. The more prosperous they become, the more funding gets funneled to terrorism. I know it's a generalization, Iraq may (or may not in the long run) be an exception because of unique circumstances--they've seen the results first hand. But statistically, the trend is apparent.

Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-02 14:37|| http://www.twobyfour.nfo/]">[http://www.twobyfour.nfo/] 2007-12-02 14:37|| Front Page Top

#12 Zionist Christian

Is that how they refer to themselves, Spike Uniter?

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2007-12-02 22:01|| 2007-12-02 22:01|| Front Page Top

#13 Zionist Christian? Well there is a tip off.

According to the CIA fact book:
Religions: indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 30%, Muslim 20%

Posted by Whomong Guelph4611 2007-12-02 22:46|| 2007-12-02 22:46|| Front Page Top

23:12 Verlaine
22:55 Barbara Skolaut
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22:49 Whomong Guelph4611
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