There is more to food poverty than food!
May 6th, 2008 | Published in Africa, Nigeria | 1 Comment
In Sub-Saharan Africa, wood is one of the most common sources of energy for cooking, and it’s common to see wood sellers dotting the landscape across the region. While there is nothing wrong in wood trade, but their sources may be.
The picture below (courtesy of BBC) shows a man in Kano, northern Nigeria, cutting down a tree by his house to sell as firewood.
In order to boost purchasing power, some people affected by the increasing cost of food have resorted to chopping down trees to process and sell as firewood.
Many of those trees were planted to help slow down rate of desertification – one of the causal factors of environmental degradation and food poverty in the region.
As food crisis continues, and more and more people cut down valuable trees, it becomes apparent how cyclical and vicious the problem gets. The end result is a flourishing endemic of continued environmental degradation, drought, and an expanding circle of poverty. And it’s just a matter of time before these factors cumulate into an event of catastrophic proportions.
The question is: “How do you break the circle?â€
May 6th, 2008 at 4:50 pm (#)
Breaking the cycle of poverty requires persistence and well planned and executed interventions.
The trees being chopped for firewood is one intervention to slow desert encroachment - an issue that affects food security. But it appears those trees are vulnerable to the axe of an hungry man!
Would the man have refrained from cutting down the tree for firewood if he knows how relevant it is to his social and economic condition?
The hopelessness of the situation is disturbing, very disturbing.