208
9
Trailer
Is a growing population an obstacle to agricultural development in Africa? To what
extent does population growth lead to environmental degradation? Does increased market integration in agriculture promote or undermine sustainability? These are some key
questions that we will discuss in this chapter and which have been debated in the development literature for several decades.
Overview
Discussions about population growth and the role of the market are also important
in political ecology and can be traced back to the theories of Malthus and Marx.
From the emergence of the field in the 1980s, political ecology has been influenced
by Marxist and Neo-Marxist theories. But, as political ecology also became subject
to influence from actor-oriented perspectives (e.g. Norman Long, Elinor Ostrom,
James Scott) and poststructuralism (e.g. Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Maarten
Hajer), internal tensions and discussions emerged. Simply summarized, one may say
that the criticism of Malthus has persisted, while the Marxist perspective has been
nuanced and further developed over time.
This chapter sets out to illustrate these discussions through the presentation of
case studies of agricultural development and its environmental and livelihood
consequences in Africa. The chapter shows how increased agricultural production in
areas that lack capital is dependent on a certain population density, how access to
markets is necessary for agricultural development, how market-oriented agriculture
need not necessarily result in environmental degradation, but also how, under certain
policy conditions, international capital may undermine the livelihoods of smallholders.
9.1 Population Growth and Agricultural Development in Africa
In policy discussions about African agriculture, terms such as ‘overpopulation’,
‘underdevelopment’ and ‘environmental crisis’ are taken for granted and used with
great certainty. While human fertility rates have generally been declining in developing countries during the last 40 years, population growth still remains high in
Sub-Saharan Africa. This growth is due to a gap between mortality rates that have
been declining for decades and fertility rates that only since the 1990s begun to
show a considerable decline. The relatively large decline in the number of deaths
compared with the number of births explains why Africa’s population growth is
the highest in the world. Fertility, that is, the number of children a woman on average gives birth to, was 6.7 for Africa overall at the beginning of the 1970s, while in
2017 it had come down to 4.7. According to the UN, it will drop down to 3.1 in
2050 (UN 2015). In other words, there will be high population growth in Africa for
many more years. The question is what consequences this will have for agricultural
development on the continent.
While grain production per capita in Asia and Latin America has increased
significantly in the last 50 years, it has fallen in Africa, at least according to official
Chapter 9 · Population Growth, Markets and Sustainable Land-Use in Africa
9
Trailer
Is a growing population an obstacle to agricultural development in Africa? To what
extent does population growth lead to environmental degradation? Does increased market integration in agriculture promote or undermine sustainability? These are some key
questions that we will discuss in this chapter and which have been debated in the development literature for several decades.
Overview
Discussions about population growth and the role of the market are also important
in political ecology and can be traced back to the theories of Malthus and Marx.
From the emergence of the field in the 1980s, political ecology has been influenced
by Marxist and Neo-Marxist theories. But, as political ecology also became subject
to influence from actor-oriented perspectives (e.g. Norman Long, Elinor Ostrom,
James Scott) and poststructuralism (e.g. Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Maarten
Hajer), internal tensions and discussions emerged. Simply summarized, one may say
that the criticism of Malthus has persisted, while the Marxist perspective has been
nuanced and further developed over time.
This chapter sets out to illustrate these discussions through the presentation of
case studies of agricultural development and its environmental and livelihood
consequences in Africa. The chapter shows how increased agricultural production in
areas that lack capital is dependent on a certain population density, how access to
markets is necessary for agricultural development, how market-oriented agriculture
need not necessarily result in environmental degradation, but also how, under certain
policy conditions, international capital may undermine the livelihoods of smallholders.
9.1 Population Growth and Agricultural Development in Africa
In policy discussions about African agriculture, terms such as ‘overpopulation’,
‘underdevelopment’ and ‘environmental crisis’ are taken for granted and used with
great certainty. While human fertility rates have generally been declining in developing countries during the last 40 years, population growth still remains high in
Sub-Saharan Africa. This growth is due to a gap between mortality rates that have
been declining for decades and fertility rates that only since the 1990s begun to
show a considerable decline. The relatively large decline in the number of deaths
compared with the number of births explains why Africa’s population growth is
the highest in the world. Fertility, that is, the number of children a woman on average gives birth to, was 6.7 for Africa overall at the beginning of the 1970s, while in
2017 it had come down to 4.7. According to the UN, it will drop down to 3.1 in
2050 (UN 2015). In other words, there will be high population growth in Africa for
many more years. The question is what consequences this will have for agricultural
development on the continent.
While grain production per capita in Asia and Latin America has increased
significantly in the last 50 years, it has fallen in Africa, at least according to official
Chapter 9 · Population Growth, Markets and Sustainable Land-Use in Africa