The impact of multinational corporations, global trade and extreme weather on agriculture in West Africa

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The impact of multinational corporations, global trade and extreme weather on agriculture in West Africa

Introduction: Agriculture is the most common source of income in the developing countries and especially in West Africa. Sadly it's also very fragile. It's the most wheather-dependent of all human activities and in this reagion it's higly threatend by climate change which is shaped by major droughts and desetification. Unfortunately the climate change is not the only problem for west african farmers. Their prices cannot compete with the higly subsidized european prices which means they can't access foregin markets but on the other side the local goverments are forced to open their markets to the cheap foreign goods which is preventing the local economies from growing. For the multinational corporation farmers from these regions serve as a source of cheap labour where they can keep absurdly low wages.

Extreme weather

In this region over last few years we could witness a lot of extreme weather events. Especially major droughts causing huge famines and deaths due to a slow reaction of the rest of the world. Climate has a strong influence on agricultural production.These impacts are particularly strong in developing countries in the tropics that in many cases are exposed to high variability in climate, and where poverty increases the risk and the impact of natural disasters. In Sahel and other West African regions double so because the rain-fed crop production is the main source of food and income and means to control the crop environment are largely unavailable to farmers: irrigation is rarely an option and use of mechanization, fertilizers and other off-farm inputs is low. It’s not possible to link specific weather events to climate change. However, most scientists agree the world will experience more unpredictable and extreme weather events as a result of climate change.

Adaptation: We can't change weather. Changes in crops or crop management(modernisation). In some cases this could have other negative effects like enviromental damage. Better managment of the foreign aid in an emergency.(2010 famine)

Multinational corporations

The main goal of the MNCs is to maximalaze their profit. Many of them are participating in various development programs and are investing big amounts of money into them. But this doesn't match with their main goal- the profit. They keep this goal because they have the responsibility towards their shareholders. Minimal wages- less expenditures

Workers rights- women do 80% of famrers work but recieve less than 5% of the support to do it(training, seeds, credit and land) Food and agriculture policies and global trade agreements promote trade liberalisation and the globalisation of the food economy. As farmers and plantation owners are squeezed to produce more and more at ever decreasing margins, its no wonder that farm workers and the environment are exploited.

In the West African nations of Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mauritania where fishing has historically been central to the local economy. Beginning in 1979, the European Union began brokering fishing rights contracts off the coast of West Africa. This continues to this day. Commercial unsustainable over-fishing from foreign corporations have played a significant role in the large-scale unemployment and migration of people across the region. This stands in direct opposition to United Nations Treaty on the Seas which recognizes the importance of fishing to local communities and insists that government fishing agreements with foreign companies should be targeted at surplus stocks only

American companies such as Microsoft and Google have joined forces with NGOs and development organizations in order to boost employment rates among young people in West Africa. As part of the Youth Empowerment Program, young people from 12 West African countries are being trained in industries that include technology, engineering and development.  The program, partly funded by the United Nations, hopes to help 40,000 people under the age of 24.

Global trade

To the developed world the developing countries serve as reservoirs of cheap labor and raw materials

Trade generates incredible wealth, and links the lives of everyone on the planet.But unfair trade agreements and agricultural subsidies hamper efforts to reduce poverty in poor countries

Rich countries limit and control poor countries' share of the world market by charging high taxes on imported goods. As a result, many poor countries can only afford to export raw materials, which give far lower returns than finished products. For example, the rich world buys cheap cotton and cocoa and turns them into expensive clothes and chocolate. At the same time, poor countries are threatened with having loans withheld unless they open their markets to rich countries' exports.

The rich world tells the poor world to get rid of subsidies, but continues to spend $1 billion a day subsidizing its own farming enterprises. Rich countries dump subsidized produce on developing countries, driving down the price of local produce - with devastating effects on the local economy. This has made many poor farmers even poorer, or forced them off their land completely.

If the new trade agreements are skewed in favor of Europe’s rich countries, then they are more likely to increase rather than reduce poverty. Europe is pushing for new trade rules which would open up African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to competition from technologically advanced European industries and heavily subsidized European farmers.

Possible Solutions: