Africa is Not a Victim of Nature; It is a
Victor of Nature
17 August, 2010 | By Allan Afuah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed by
Oxford University to replace the UN's Human Poverty Index,
African countries were again ranked as the poorest of the poor.
eliminated?
In a recent book, I argue that poverty in Africa will be eradicated
only if the world takes radically different approaches. A good start
for doing so would be to see Africa for what it really is. It is not a
victim of nature that has to beg for handouts to survive but a victor
of nature that can thrive by learning how to create value and wealth
using its abundant natural resources.
Every African country has strengths that it can exploit to create
wealth. To see these strengths and learn how to use them, people
have to change their mentality of Africa. I will use the two poorest
countries in the world--Niger and Ethiopia--to illustrate the stacking
differences between the two mentalities and why one--Africa as
victim of nature--is very wrong for Africa.
I start with Niger. When one uses the victim of nature lens, one sees
Niger as a landlocked African country, 80% of which is desert (the
Sahara), prone to droughts, grasshopper invasions, and full of
disease. These conditions would then explain why, according to the
MPI, Niger is the poorest country in the world with 92.7% of it
citizens living in poverty, 65.9% on $1.25 or less a day, and 89.5%
are deprived of sanitation. This would then suggest that more
handouts of food, medicines, etc would help the country.
A victor of nature mentality would see things differently. Although
80% of the country is desert, the remaining 20% has the Niger
River, Africa's third largest, flowing through it, and this portion is
larger than North and South Korea combined, or all of the United
Kingdom. And all of that land for only 16 million people compared
to 74 million for the Koreas and 62 million for the United Kingdom.
And that 80% that is desert? Well, a very small fraction of it has
enough solar energy potential to supply all the electrical energy
needs of the European Union. Besides, a good part of the 80%
desert can be reclaimed by planting trees.
More important, the country is loaded with natural resources such
as gold, oil, uranium, coal, iron ore, tin phosphates, gypsum, salt
and molybdenum despite only superficial exploration. Of these, only
uranium has been exploited considerably. Most of the uranium is
mined by French firms and exported to France, Niger's former
colonial master, where more than 70% of the country's electricity is
produced using uranium.
Imagine what would have happened if a program had been put in
place for Nigeriens to learn how to add value to their natural
resources and export more finished products. Imagine how much of
the desert would be reclaimed if each Nigerien planted a tree a
year. Dropping surplus white flour or corn on Niger annually may
feed some hungry children in the short term but does not lift
Nigeriens out of poverty. Teaching them how to create wealth using
their abundant natural will.
For Case #2, Ethiopia, I start in India. According to Professor
Jeffrey Sachs, "India is a civilization of great river systems and large-
scale irrigation, thanks to the Himalayan snowmelt and glacier melt
and the annual monsoon rains. Africa is a continent of rain-fed (non-
irrigation) agriculture." Thus, when the rains do not come, victims of
geography like Ethiopia have to turn to the West for help.
What is remarkable is that, since 2000, Indian firms have been
spending billions of dollars on hundreds of thousands of hectares of
arable African land, including some $1.5 billion spent by 80 different
Indian firms on Ethiopian land to grow rice, lentils, and other foods
to export back to India and other countries.
Somehow India, which has been blessed with natural irrigation
systems, has been buying land in Ethiopia, which is not as blessed,
to grow water-hogging crops such as rice and export them to India
and elsewhere. The question is, why couldn't Ethiopia grow these
foods, feed its own people, and export the rest to India and other
countries, creating jobs and wealth for Ethiopians in the process?
With at least 80 million people living in Ethiopia, it is difficult to
believe that one could not find a few hundred people out of these
millions or the hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians living abroad,
who are capable and willing to learn how to run large-scale farms.
Ethiopia is blessed with enough land and hardworking people to
feed itself and many other countries. It also has many other natural
resources including gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, and
hydroelectric power potential. And don't forget the high elevations
that can be used as training venues for athletes, especially long
distance runners.
There is no reason why Niger and Ethiopia should be the two
poorest counties in the world. Africa is not a victim of nature. It is a
victor of nature that should get to work and create wealth using its
abundant resources. Fortunately for Africa, China is willing to work
with Niger and other African countries to help them do what the
West has failed to do since it went to Africa for slaves: Help Africa
lift itself out of poverty.
Allan Afuah is Associate Professor of Strategy at the Stephen
M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Dr.
Afuah's latest book is The African Paradox: Is China the
Solution?
Victor of Nature
17 August, 2010 | By Allan Afuah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed by
Oxford University to replace the UN's Human Poverty Index,
African countries were again ranked as the poorest of the poor.
- In that Index, the ten
poorest countries in the
world, starting from the
poorest were: (1) Niger, (2)
Ethiopia, (3) Mali, (4)
Central African Republic,
(5) Burundi, (6) Liberia, (7)
Burkina Faso, (8) Guinea,
(9) Sierra Leone, and (10)
Rwanda. This takes us
eliminated?
In a recent book, I argue that poverty in Africa will be eradicated
only if the world takes radically different approaches. A good start
for doing so would be to see Africa for what it really is. It is not a
victim of nature that has to beg for handouts to survive but a victor
of nature that can thrive by learning how to create value and wealth
using its abundant natural resources.
Every African country has strengths that it can exploit to create
wealth. To see these strengths and learn how to use them, people
have to change their mentality of Africa. I will use the two poorest
countries in the world--Niger and Ethiopia--to illustrate the stacking
differences between the two mentalities and why one--Africa as
victim of nature--is very wrong for Africa.
I start with Niger. When one uses the victim of nature lens, one sees
Niger as a landlocked African country, 80% of which is desert (the
Sahara), prone to droughts, grasshopper invasions, and full of
disease. These conditions would then explain why, according to the
MPI, Niger is the poorest country in the world with 92.7% of it
citizens living in poverty, 65.9% on $1.25 or less a day, and 89.5%
are deprived of sanitation. This would then suggest that more
handouts of food, medicines, etc would help the country.
A victor of nature mentality would see things differently. Although
80% of the country is desert, the remaining 20% has the Niger
River, Africa's third largest, flowing through it, and this portion is
larger than North and South Korea combined, or all of the United
Kingdom. And all of that land for only 16 million people compared
to 74 million for the Koreas and 62 million for the United Kingdom.
And that 80% that is desert? Well, a very small fraction of it has
enough solar energy potential to supply all the electrical energy
needs of the European Union. Besides, a good part of the 80%
desert can be reclaimed by planting trees.
More important, the country is loaded with natural resources such
as gold, oil, uranium, coal, iron ore, tin phosphates, gypsum, salt
and molybdenum despite only superficial exploration. Of these, only
uranium has been exploited considerably. Most of the uranium is
mined by French firms and exported to France, Niger's former
colonial master, where more than 70% of the country's electricity is
produced using uranium.
Imagine what would have happened if a program had been put in
place for Nigeriens to learn how to add value to their natural
resources and export more finished products. Imagine how much of
the desert would be reclaimed if each Nigerien planted a tree a
year. Dropping surplus white flour or corn on Niger annually may
feed some hungry children in the short term but does not lift
Nigeriens out of poverty. Teaching them how to create wealth using
their abundant natural will.
For Case #2, Ethiopia, I start in India. According to Professor
Jeffrey Sachs, "India is a civilization of great river systems and large-
scale irrigation, thanks to the Himalayan snowmelt and glacier melt
and the annual monsoon rains. Africa is a continent of rain-fed (non-
irrigation) agriculture." Thus, when the rains do not come, victims of
geography like Ethiopia have to turn to the West for help.
What is remarkable is that, since 2000, Indian firms have been
spending billions of dollars on hundreds of thousands of hectares of
arable African land, including some $1.5 billion spent by 80 different
Indian firms on Ethiopian land to grow rice, lentils, and other foods
to export back to India and other countries.
Somehow India, which has been blessed with natural irrigation
systems, has been buying land in Ethiopia, which is not as blessed,
to grow water-hogging crops such as rice and export them to India
and elsewhere. The question is, why couldn't Ethiopia grow these
foods, feed its own people, and export the rest to India and other
countries, creating jobs and wealth for Ethiopians in the process?
With at least 80 million people living in Ethiopia, it is difficult to
believe that one could not find a few hundred people out of these
millions or the hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians living abroad,
who are capable and willing to learn how to run large-scale farms.
Ethiopia is blessed with enough land and hardworking people to
feed itself and many other countries. It also has many other natural
resources including gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, and
hydroelectric power potential. And don't forget the high elevations
that can be used as training venues for athletes, especially long
distance runners.
There is no reason why Niger and Ethiopia should be the two
poorest counties in the world. Africa is not a victim of nature. It is a
victor of nature that should get to work and create wealth using its
abundant resources. Fortunately for Africa, China is willing to work
with Niger and other African countries to help them do what the
West has failed to do since it went to Africa for slaves: Help Africa
lift itself out of poverty.
Allan Afuah is Associate Professor of Strategy at the Stephen
M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Dr.
Afuah's latest book is The African Paradox: Is China the
Solution?
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