13
However , several critical disadvantages can be pointed out for the introduction of the Green Revolution in the area .
First , the staple food crops are much diversified in Sub-Saharan Africa , and rice and wheat occupy a very small share in the total staple food ( Table 2 ). Since there is relatively a small backlog of new technologies in the world for root crops and coarse cereals other than maize , it may be quite difficult to raise productivity of the major staple food crops in Sub-Saharan Africa .
Table 2 Crop-wise Demand and Supply in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2000
Crop
Demand ( million ton )
Production ( million ton )
Net import ( million ton )
Ratio of net import in total demand (%)
Cassava |
106.5 |
106.8 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
Sweat Potato |
43.8 |
35.7 |
2.1 |
5.6 |
Maize |
37.8 |
32.6 |
2.4 |
6.9 |
Other Cereals |
35.0 |
43.7 |
0.1 |
0.2 |
Wheat |
13.6 |
4.6 |
9.0 |
66.2 |
Rice |
12.0 |
6.7 |
5.3 |
44.2 |
Source . De Fraiture , 2005 . |
Second , most of the Sub-Saharan agriculture is depending on rainfall . The irrigated ratio of farmland is only less than 4 percent ( 60,000 hectare is irrigated out of the total 1,580,000 hectare ). Irrigation is the most important pre-requisite not only for the diffusion of the new seed-fertilizer technology but also for the introduction of rice and wheat itself . From the irrigated land which is less than 4 percent , half of the rice production and one third of the wheat production are at present produced in Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole . Moreover , approximately 60 percent of the irrigated land is concentrated in only three countries ; South Africa , Sudan and Madagascar . Therefore , 55 percent of irrigated rice production is concentrated in Nigeria and Madagascar , and 75 percent of irrigated wheat production is concentrated in South Africa and Ethiopia ( Riddle et al , 2006 ).
Third , the share of urban population is already higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in South Asia including India . In other words , a large-scale rural-urban migration has been started in Sub-Saharan Africa before attaining substantial increase in agricultural productivity and also before creating sufficient non-agricultural job opportunities in urban areas . Therefore the poverty of urban population is a more serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa than in India . In addition , as the Green Revolution technology is basically labor intensive , it may not be suitable for rural Sub-Saharan Africa where labor is a scarce resource .
Fourth , the demand for staple food is usually different between rural and urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa . Urban population prefers rice and wheat whereas rural people are continuously depending on traditional staple foods other than rice and wheat in general . Therefore , even if farmers