Famine and famine relief = viewing Africa in the 1980s from China in the 1920s
Li, L.M.
Drought and hunger in Africa denying famine a future: 415-434
1987
Document Number: 239186
In many respects the problems faced by Africa today resemble those experienced by China in the first half of this century. First, recurrent African famines take place in a physical environment whose natural instability and vulnerability have been exacerbated by human behaviour. In the Sahel, the effect of drought has been greatly magnified by the spread of the desert southward, which, in turn, has probably been caused by overgrazing of livestock, deforestation, and other land-use practices. In north China, similarly, since at least the mid-19th century, the natural tendency of the Yellow River to overflow its bank had been greatly increased by neglect of dike repairs, and also by silting generated by continual deforestation of the upland areas. Second, famine in Africa occurs in the context of a population explosion, which is sometimes mistakenly taken to be the cause of the famine itself. Third, the very low standard of living of large sectors of the population in Africa was also found in China in the 1920s and 1930s. Fourth, low productivity in agriculture is held largely responsible for Africa's increasing inability to feed itself, but the reasons for this low productivity are disputed. Similarly, both Chinese and foreigners in the 1920s and 1930s agreed that Chinese agriculture could be more productive, but disagreed about the causes of agricultural stagnation. Fifth, wide income inequalities in Africa are intensified by a growing urban-rural disparity in living standards and opportunities. Finally, Africa's serious economic problems are unfolding in a political context that is, in most African countries, quite unstable. Likewise, China between 1911 and 1949 was in a state of political disorder, in which the major actors were militarists whose primary concern was their own survival. The paper argues that the role of state policy together with the political capability to enforce it, are the transferable lessons of the Chinese experience of famine.