PART 5. NEW MEDIA AND AGRIBUSINESS IMPERIALISM

Africa food crops have been the fundamental source of food and nutrition for indigenous communities since time immemorial providing food security for the local people. However with the introduction of genetically modified crops, the traditional crops have been largely marginalized and excluded by modern conventional agribusiness practices hence their value as food sources have declined as they have been superseded by commercialized hybrid food crop variety. This has been accompanied by stigmatization of the western food by labeling the African food as the food for the poor and their commercialization as inferior crops. This marginalization of Traditional African crops by the West has been acquired in many parts of Africa within farming activities.

More Lookout........ Agribusiness on Lenses

Traditional crops are generally considered minor crops however most of the newly introduced Western food crops are not adapted to the local condition and require high inputs of agrochemicals such as fertilizers, mechanization and water supply.

In advent of adverse environmental conditions and lack of inputs modern or imported cash crops have left Africans vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition due to crop failure as evidenced in Kisii/Rift Valley where traditional /indigenous food crops have emerged prominently as a source of community resilience to food insecurity.

CONT.... PART 6. NEO-LIBERALISATION, DEMOCRACY AND THE NEW MEDIA