The crisis of the 1970s and 1980s results from the combined effects of the over-exploitation of the land and of men and women, raised to a level that can be raised no more, and the crisis engulfing the capitalist system as a whole. Faced with this the proposals that rain down on Africa at an ever increasing rate are scarcely anything more than the expression of the 'quest for palliatives', as Gakou shows.
If it is only a matter of palliatives, it is because the 'pro-agriculture' talk nurtured by the media in the West is contrasted with an alleged 'preference for industrialization' which is said to be source of the bankruptcy. For the reason for seeking greater output per farmer is precisely in order to make possible a higher degree of urbanization. |
