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Modern monoculture: A product of colonialism

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  For my final blog post, I will be focussing on monoculture as a colonial legacy on the African continent.  Tea plantation in Rwanda Monoculture is a unanimous legacy of colonization across the continent and beyond ( Kanu, 2012 ; Watkins, 2018 ; Havik et al., 2018) . “Egypt produced cotton, Rwanda-Urundi was almost completely dedicated to growing coffee, and Upper Volta specialized in palm oil” (Kanu, 2012, pg 127) . In the Brazilian state of Bahia, palm oil has been extracted for five centuries ( Watkins, 2018 ). In Guinea-Bissau, the cashew crop-boom began in the 90s, where cashews were grown by over half of agricultural households ( Havik et al., 2018 ). The practice of monoculture and its export destinations are all practices mastered during the colonial period, meant to increase efficiency and productivity, for the benefit of empires (Ross, 2017) . The histories of mass exploitation and violence expressed in the environment, have manifested into a crisis in post-colonial Africa (
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Empowering women farmers in Kenya

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  Last blog, we looked at innovative agriculture in informal settlements in Kibera, Kenya. Today, I will be taking an intersectional approach, in which we look at the importance of empowering women farmers in Kenya. Women bean farmers in Kenya In Kenya, 42% to 65% of the agricultural labour force makeup is women (Diiro, et al., 2018). Although women are crucial in agricultural and local water management, it is often done without pay or credit and on top of their domestic care (Nelson, et al., 2012) . This is due to gender inequality and patriarchy in many countries in the Global South (Nelson, et al., 2012) . Women farmers are thus responsible for a large portion of their community’s food security (Mlaba, 2023) . Despite this immense responsibility, for many women farmers in Kenya and many parts of broader sub-Saharan Africa, patriarchal systems exacerbate gender inequality and problems of access (Diiro, et al., 2018; Mwololo et al., 2022 ) For example, only 0.5% of women have access
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Urban agriculture innovations: Kibera and the COVID-19 crisis

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Sack gardening in Kibera, Nairobi           Inspired by our discussion this week about urban poverty, sanitation & social innovation, I will be looking at urban agriculture innovations in Nairobi that stemmed out of the COVID-19 crisis (Sam Ikua).  The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated the vulnerability of international supply chains, especially for food (Sam Ikua) . On a regional scale, rural-urban linkages were difficult to sustain during the crisis, making people rely on food production and consumption within their own community (Sam Ikua) . Since then, urban agriculture has gained popularity, especially in Kibera, the biggest informal settlement in Africa, situated on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya (Sam Ikua) . The rise in urban agriculture during the pandemic demonstrated that “localized food systems and short food supply chains” are good for reducing vulnerability in households (Sam Ikua) . Consumers are a walk away, inputs are sourced locally such as manure, and seeds are boug
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Kenyan farmers blamed for draining water sources

   As part of my first blog entry in Water and Food, I will look at the political and environmental impacts, climate change has had on farmers in Central Kenya. Before we begin, it is crucial to acknowledge a key irony that occurs in discussions of climate change and development. The Global North has contributed significantly high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere, since the beginning of the industrial period, 150 years ago (Uddin, 2017) . However, the Global South, the majority of whom have yet to contribute to these industrial activities to the same degree, experiences the brunt of the impacts of climate change (Uddin, 2017) . Global initiatives that aim to reduce GHG emissions do not just target countries in the Global North, the greatest contributors, but also pressure countries in the Global South to follow suit (Uddin, 2017) . As many countries in the Global South are post-colonial countries, many are endeavoring to develop their economies, infrastructure, and resources (
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