Abstract
Traditional forms of farming, herding, and fishing are remarkably adapted to African conditions but these traditional approaches are being overtaken by modern pressures, particularly population growth. According to a report published by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a nonpartisan analytical support agency of the U. S. Congress, one promising way to help African farmers and herders would be for development assistance organizations to focus more attention on the various forms of low-resource agriculture that predominate in Africa.
In keeping with OTA's mission and primary audience, “Enhancing Agriculture in Africa: A Role for U. S. Development Assistance” (1988) is a policy-oriented synthesis of available technical information. The report provides Congress with a range of options that, if pursued, could help Africans enhance agriculture, increase their food security, and improve their lives.
This paper is drawn from the larger OTA report, and it focuses on the role technology might play in enhancing low-resource agriculture. Readers should see the full assessment (OTA, 1988) for more information on policy considerations; the specific technologies mentioned; or a complete list of advisory panel members, workshops and participants, and commissioned papers.
OTA's report comes at a critical time: for a variety of reasons—ranging from changing values to increased budget constraints—U. S. foreign assistance policy is undergoing a fundamental reevaluation. This review of the potential of low-resource agriculture, and options the United States might pursue to enhance this approach, was intended to aid in this reevaluation.
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Additional information
The authors all served as staff at the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) during the preparation of the study “Enhancing Agriculture in Africa: A Role for U. S. Development Assistance.” Each brought previous experience with issues related to African development to the study team, as well as expertise in a variety of fields including agricultural ecology, forestry, natural resource management, and policy analysis. The report discussed in this paper is one in a series prepared by OTA for the U. S. Congress over the past few years on topics ranging from tropical deforestation to the African Development Foundation.
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Horwith, B.J., Windle, P.N., MacDonald, E.F. et al. The role of technology in enhancing low resource agriculture in Africa. Agric Hum Values 6, 68–84 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217670
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217670