I have been brought to task for publishing an article entitled: ‘Agrarianism sustained the ancient Yoruba, it will sustain an independent Yorubaland too https://chng.it/8SN2nvJF via @UKChange’
Critics claim that we cannot conduct a successful or worthwhile international trade with ‘food’ crops; only ‘cash’ crops would do. The critics provided no analysis as done in the aforesaid article. Yam, cassava, plantain and other ‘food’ crops are in demand in the UK, for example. All imported from the tropics, they are in abundance in local markets in the UK. In other words, ‘food’ crop does not mean ‘for local consumption only’. Other people want it too. The philosophy of agrarianism, as handed down to us by our forefathers, was that a farmer planted way more than his family could consume. The surplus the farmer traded for goods and services to satisfy his family’s other needs. ‘Food’ crop includes tree crops, such as, cocoa, orange, and guava. Cocoa export financed Awolowo’s miracles of 1954-9.
Critics say it was retrogressive to advocate the use of ‘cutlass and hoe’ in the 21st century. This criticism is about appearance nothing more. A 4-hectare agrarian farm, whether for food or tree crop, could be managed with just cutlass and hoe. A farm for a tuber crop, such as, yam, for example, requires land preparation (mounds), staking and training of vines, and weeding; all operations that could be done with cutlass and hoe. To maintain a cocoa farm requires weeding, mulching, shade management, and pruning; all operations that could be done with cutlass and hoe. Looking after a banana/plantain farm requires weeding, mulching and pruning; all operations that could be done with cutlass and hoe.
Economy refers to the way we make money plus the way we spend money. Machinery ie tools, big or small, influences both the way we make money and the way we spend money. It is important to appreciate however that machinery comes in two guises. Type 1 or value-negative machinery – does the same as man can do himself. Machine only does it in larger quantities. For example, a tractor. One tractor operative could do the job of 1000 men; but an unwanted by-product of that is 999 unemployed men. That machinery damages the economy by making hundreds unemployed! Type 2 or value-positive machinery – does what man cannot do for himself. For example, a trailer. One trailer driver could move farm produce in quantities and over distances that the 999 men could not do. That machinery brings the market to the farmer. That machinery enhances the economy!
Economic value of machinery also depends on scale. Small scale or ‘domestic’ casava-to-gari maker, occupying the same space as a large domestic electricity generator, can be owned and operated by one ordinary man/woman. 1000 of these ‘domestic’ machinery would be more beneficial to the economy than one gigantic industrial scale machine. Unlike the industrial machinery, ‘domestic’ machinery could be mobile or located in the midst of farms, which would reduce farmers’ reliance on the services of the trailer driver. The industrial scale machinery came with additional liabilities too, such as, costs of purchase/running the machinery, fertilisers, preservatives and storage.
Agribusiness, or industrial farming, that critics tout has not eradicated starvation in the world. Agribusiness is wasteful in the midst of this starvation. The World Bank says, for example: ‘One third of food produced globally is either lost or wasted. Addressing food loss and waste is critical to improving food and nutrition security, as well as helping to meet climate goals and reduce stress on the environment.’
Agribusiness is anti-diversity. In the 1950’s Yorubaland, lunch for a child comprised of a variety of fruits. Agribusiness sadly has made rarity of many of these indigenous fruit crops, such as, Asala (walnut, T. conophorum), Agbalumo (African star apple, C. albidum), Oro (dika nut, I. gabonensis), Awin (velvet tamarind, D. Guineese), and Isin (soapberry, B. sapida). These exotic fruits have the potential to be very successful indeed in the international market, yet they are no longer being cultivated. This is because instead we now import foreign fruits, such as, grapes, apples and pears whose nutritional values are not superior to ours. The exotic fruit import into the EU is worth more than half a billion Euros in 2022.
This debate reveals a longstanding worrying trend; our thinkers always think: ‘do it like they did’, not ‘do it like we did’. Agrarianism that our forefathers practised had been tried and tested over generations, and it is economically superior to the alien agribusiness.
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