The Facts -- New Internationalist

new internationalist
issue 208 - June 1990

MOST AFRICANS are as poor today as they were 30 years ago
- and getting poorer. Famines, droughts and wars are commonplace.
And before a route out of the crisis can be plotted the
bare facts need to be stared in the face.

CREEPING DESERT

Around 650 million square kilometres of farming land in sub-Saharan Africa have become desert in the last 50 years - and the process is accelerating. And more than 10 million people have been forced to leave home as a result of desertification.²

Rural populations affected by severe desertification²

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GRINDING POVERTY

Of the 20 poorest countries in the world, 14 are from sub-Saharan Africa. And at least half of these have gone backwards economically since 1965.

Africa's poorest countries³

		(place among world's poorest)	GNP per capita 1987 (in US dollars)	Average annual economic growth 1965-87
1.	Ethiopia	(1)	130	0.1%
2.	Chad	(3)	150	-2.0%
3.	Zaire	(4)	150	2.4%
4.	Malawi	(6)	160	1.4%
5.	Mozambique	(9)	170	-
6.	Tanzania	(10)	180	-4.0%
7.	Burkina Faso	(11)	190	1.6%
8.	Madagascar	(12)	210	-1.8%
9.	Mali	(13)	210	-
10.	Burundi	(14)	250	1.6%
11.	Zambia	(15)	250	-2.1%
12.	Niger	(16)	260	-2.2%
13.	Uganda	(17)	260	-2.7%
14.	Togo	(20)	290	0.0

DOMINATING DEBTS

Sub-Saharan Africa's total debt increased from about 6 billion dollars in 1970 to 134 billion dollars in 1988. By 1988 the total debt was equal to the region's Gross National Product and three and a half times its export earnings.⁴ Those countries with the largest debts in Black Africa are Nigeria, the Sudan and Ivory Coast.³

This table shows the increase in Africa's total debt between 1980 and 1987.⁶
Figures are in $US billion.

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PLUMMETING PRICES

The prices Africa gets for its primary products have slumped sharply in real terms during the 1980s while the prices it has to pay for goods from the West have continued to rise.

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DESPERATE DEPENDENCE

Africa contributes only four per cent to the annual volume of world trade.⁴ Yet African economies often depend heavily on the trade of a single commodity for their foreign exchange.

The following table shows those countries which depended on one agricultural commodity for 40 percent or more of their total export earnings in 1987¹.

Country	Commodity	Percentage of export earnings
Rwanda	Coffee	69.2%
Malawi	Tobacco	64.2%
Ethiopia	Coffee	50.5%
Ghana	Cocoa	46.4%
Burundi	Coffee	41.8%
Benin	Cotton	40.5%
Gambia	Ground nuts	40%

MILITARY MADNESS

[image, unknown] Between 1945 and 1989 sub-Saharan Africa saw at least 30 major military conflicts. Most of the world's military-controlled governments are found in this region.

Military spending
Five of Africa's poorest countries increased their spending on the military between 1972 and 1987 while cutting their spending on social welfare.²

	Defence		Housing, amenities social services and welfare
	1972	1987	1972	1987
Malawi	3.1	6.6	5.8	2.3
Tanzania	11.9	15.8	2.1	1.7
Uganda	23.1	26.3	7.3	2.9
Kenya	6.0	9.1	3.9	1.7
Liberia	5.3	8.9	3.5	1.9

Wars in Sub-Saharan Africa 1945 - 1989

Angola 1961-75, 1975-89
Burundi - 197, 1988
Cameroon 1955-60
Chad 1980-87
Ethiopia 1974-89, 1976-83
Ghana 1981
Guinea-Bissau - 1962-74
Kenya 1952-63
Madagascar 1947-48
Mozambique 1965-75, 1981-89
Nigeria 1967-70, 1980-81, 1984
Rwanda 1956-65
Somalia 1988
Sudan 1963-72, 1984-89
Uganda 1966, 1971-78, 1978-79, 1981-87
West Sahara 1975-87
Zaire 1960-65
Zambia 1964
Zimbabwe 1972-79, 1983

WEARY WOMEN

Women do 75% of Africa's agricultural work and 95% of the domestic work.8
In Mozambique 90% of women are engaged in food production.9
African women do 70% of hoeing and weeding, 60% of harvesting, 50% of planting, 60% of marketing, 90% of food processing and 80% of transporting crops home and storing them.10

UNPRODUCTIVE FARMING

Kilograms per person

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1 Sub-Saharan Africa From Crisis to Sustainable Development, World Bank 1989.
2 State of the Worlds Population 1988, UNFPA.
3 World Development Report 1989, World Bank.
4 A Fate Worse than Debt, Susan George (Pelican 1988).
5 Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics, UNCTAD 1988.
6 World Debt Tables, World Bank 1988-9.
7 Africa: What Can Be Done, Ben Turok (Zed 1987).
8 State of the World, Brown and Wolf 1985.
9 Women of The World - An International Atlas, Joni Seagar and Ann Olson (Pan 1986).
10 Women: Key to African Food Security, FAO 1988.
11 World Military and Social Expenditures, Ruth Leger Sivard (World Priorities 1989).