Page 150 - A People Called Afrika

A PEOPLE CALLED AFRIKA

Afrikan economy as defined by Dr. Oluwabamide and Dr.
Bhengu carry some weight and ought to be studied and con-
sidered closely by proponents of Afrika’s growth and develop-
ment. For why, this far into Afrika’s growth, should the conti-
nent still be dealing with a system that has proven itself to be
out of line with what Afrika represents and what Afrika carries?

Afrika’s indigenous farming systems (Agricology)
Nicholas Munyororo, an organic farmer and green energy
professional in Kenya, says, “Looking back to the Afrikan tra-
ditional agricultural practices, we need no research to know
that it was a sustainable way of food production that was used
to produce food over hundreds of years.” He further explains
that there were lower populations and vast spaces where food
was grown and livestock kept and farmers managed the spaces
for grazing and those for growing crops and knew how to allow
periods of time for the land to rest. Crop diversity was prac-
ticed as a matter of course and no chemical fertilizers or her-
bicides were used. With the advent of colonialism and planta-
tion farming and mono-cropping, the application of fertilizers
became necessary in order to sustain the crops i.e. the crops
were no longer getting their nutrients from the soil and the soil
quality paid the price. (See: “Growing your own food, God’s
way: Healing the Land” in Msingi Afrika Magazine, Issue 1.)

In his article, “In Praise of Agricology: Echoes of Indigenous
Knowledge Systems in Afrika”, in Issue 6 of the same maga-
zine, Ronald Elly Wanda aptly says, “In Agricology, we learn
that, if plants were not able to take the energy from the sun
and use it to mix together air, water and soil, we simply would
not be here. In other words, humanity cannot survive without
nature nor can nature exist without humanity. There is as such

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