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trialization as the quick road to development and , secondly, by state–
imposed controls that kept food prices artificially low. Small farmers
were driven out of business and either fled to urban slums or retreated
to farming subsistence plots. Only the large, predominantly state–
owned cocoa and coffee farms could afford to remain in business, and
when commodity prices for these goods dropped, many of these farms
were abandoned as well. To turn this disaster around will not only
require government-sponsored subsidies (probably to be funded by
multilateral aid agencies) and other incentives to lure urban popula–
tions back to the farms, it will also demand a clearly articulated re–
nunciation of a decade of state-indoctrinated cultural cliches that
typified grass roots farmers as "peasants," second-class citizens in na–
tions now dominated by urban slums.
In addition to punitive economic agricultural policies, African
states have, for over a decade, been ignoring the warnings of the
U.N. Environment Program, United Nations Sudano Sahelian Of–
fice, and other agencies, with respect to enacting responsible exten–
sion services to halt agricultural soil degradation and desertification.
Without firm commitment from the indigenous African govern–
ments, the efforts that have been made, by external agencies, to
remedy this situation simply fall apart as soon as the foreign techni–
cians fly home. Moreover, the spread of desertification, according to
recent climatology theories, increases the likelihood of drought.
(Desertification increases the reflective surface, or "albedo," of the
Earth; as albedo increases, precipitation levels decline. Many
climatologists are now suggesting that the extent and rapidity of en–
croaching desertification on the African continent may be altering
global climate patterns, and be among the factors contributing to the
abnormal drought affecting the eastern United States.) Like the
renewal of American prairie land after the 1930s dust bowl, basic
soil conservation methods can turn this catastrophic situation
around,
but
they will demand a decade of concerted political action
within the African states.
As for external aid, it should be clear that lagging development
in no way benefits the industrialized democracies, that foreign aid to
upgrade development ultimately improves the worldwide economy
and enhances global security. In the future, however, the focus will
shift away from large-scale, macro-enterprise projects toward the
micro-enterprise level- aimed at offering incentives to small-scale
farmers, businesses, and local entrepreneurs. Increasingly, pro-
