Can Africa be all futal?

Question

Like can we irrigate the c**p out of it and like get dirt from other places and move it there? like I know it would be SUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPXXXPPPPPER expensive but could it happen?

Answer 1

the areas that I have been told about where farming is possible and not being done are lacking water, not good dirt.

there is lots of farming there already,

the biggest problem there is corrupt governments taking any sort of aid that they get and just keeping it.

you would first need to get rid of the governments, then you might have a chance to do more farming,

getting the water may be possible,

Answer 2

Why?

Africa already has millions of acres of arable land.

Answer 3

Paul, you are demonstrating that you SUPPPPPXXPP don't know the slightest thing about what you are talking about. First you can't talk about Africa like it is a country. It's not, it is a Continent made up of many very different countries. Most of which have excellent land and plenty water most of the time. You can't talk about agriculture without bring politics into it, because it is governments that are limiting the farmers and agriculture production. I've spent 15 years in different countries in Africa working with USAID and managing a private farm for a prominent Nigerian. Believe me, farming there is all about politics. The countries that are dry need a source of water, their land is good. Most of the desert there used to be rich farm land and could be again with irrigation. It is not futile in most countries in Africa, but they have some huge obstacles to overcome, the biggest one is government. Most farmers are very poor but grow enough food to raise large families. They are a happy people, for the most part, and just need to be left alone to live like they want to.

Answer 4

People always think of land as being fruitfal, by producing crops like grains, fruits and vegtables.

Short answer, no, that idea would not work in Africa.  Not enough water.  Imported soil would not work.  Soil is alive (at least good productive soil is).  It is teaming with bacterial life.  The bacterias are as evolved to their specific areas as the large mamals are.  Elephants are not going to survive in Russian winters.  Polar Bears are not going to survive in Hawaii as wild animals.  The bacteria and microbes that make soil alive are not going to survive outside their areas of evolution.

This does not mean Africa cannot be fruitfal.  It is one of the most bountiful areas.  People need to stop thinking in terms of crops that are planted in the ground.  They need to start thinking about domestic animals.  Animals can eat sparse vegitation which humans have no hope of deriving any nutritional value from, and they can turn that plant matter into meat, milk, and eggs which humans can eat.

Africa has made tremendous strides with providing food for the people living there via goats and meat rabbits.  Rabbits are a new introduction.  They are not turned loose (as they were in Australia) but rather kept in cages.  People (usually women and children) harvest the local plant matter and bring it to the rabbits.  In return they can harvest more meat, with less water, and with less feed, AND in less time than they would raising cattle.  Rabbits have been highly successful at helping the protien needs of the people there.  

They can continue to grow small gardens with the limited water, and by mixing in rabbits and goats in responsible ways communities can thrive.

The problem is that people need to be taught, and get away from the Easter Island mentality.  On Easter Island the native people believe is it MUCH better to own 100 starving, dying horses, than six well fed, well cared for horses (they feel this way about all of their livestock).  Prestige is in the numbers, not the quality of the stock.

As more and more Africans are educated about how fewer animals that are better cared for, and better fed can actually improve their lives, more and more inroads are made.

However you cannot discount the political side of things.  Africa is a nation of strife.  Every time an army sweeps across some nation the livstock, and the main food supply is usually killed, and people starve.

People can happily and successfully inhabit marginal lands with the help of properly managed livestock.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 5

We can build soil. We can re-green deserts. We can re-forest. We can create productive edible environments such as forest gardens and permaculture gardens in cities and countryside alike.

We know how to do this. It is being done now in some of the driest, most barren, most poverty-stricken areas of the world. Learn about Permaculture. Start by watching some of the Youtube videos below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S6kTlz6M...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W15RRvKyJ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw7mQZHfF...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YMX031we...