Living in Sub-Saharan Africa

1. Living in Sub-Saharan Africa

2. Agriculture • Farming is the main economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa. • Most people in the region engage in subsistence farming. • A small-scale agriculture that provides primarily for the needs of just a family or village • Nomadic tribes (Masai in Kenya and Tanzania / Fulani Nigeria and other western African countries) use shifting farming • A method in which farmers move every one to three years to find better soil • AKA slash-and-burn farming: Using basic tools they clear and cultivate land, burning the trees and brush they have cut. This produces ash-enriched soil, and they plant new seeds. • In area with permanent good soil, farmers practice sedentary farming. • Agriculture that is conducted at permanent settlements • Examples: The Kikuyu in Kenya, and the Hausa in Nigeria • Small percentage of the population works at commercial farming • A farm that produce crops at a large scale • Most of these commercial farms are foreign owned

3. Fulani: Nomadic Herdsman • http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/places/countries-places/mali/mali_fulani/

4. Challenges • In Zimbabwe, there has been a clash between subsistent farmers and commercial farmers due to the distribution of land • Of the more than 11 million people in the country, only 4,000 (mostly descendants of Europeans) control 40% of the total farmland. • Other challenges: • Overgrazing • Overworked soils • Lack of technology • In response to these issues, farmers in Zambia have started to practice conservation farming • A land-management technique that helps protect farmland

5. Conservation Farming in Zambia • http://news.linktv.org/videos/africa-climate-for-change/436

6. Logging and Fishing • Logging in Sub-Saharan Africa makes up less than 10% of the world’s lumber supply. • However, many coastal countries with rain forests, such as Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and South Africa, do export significant amounts of lumber and pulp • Fishing is another minor, yet important part of the regions economy • The richest fishing grounds lie off the region’s west coast • Countries bordering oceans – South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal – haul the largest catches • Also, island countries rely on fishing as a part of their economy.

7. Environmental Concern: African Rainforests • http://on.aol.com/video/disappearance-of-rainforests-in-central-and-west-africa-506874720 • End 3:08

8. Mining Resources • South Africa • The Witwatersrand – a gold deposit 300 miles long, making South Africa the world’s largest producer of gold • Also a heavy producer of diamonds, gems, coal, platinum, chromium, vanadium, and manganese. • Most of the money from this mining goes to white South Africans • Guinea • One-third of the world’s bauxite, used in making aluminum, reserve. • Nigeria • The region’s only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

9. Gold Mines in South Africa • http://www.history.com/videos/south-africas-gold-mines#south-africas-gold-mines

10. Industrialization • Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa has been slow. The lack of infrastructure – resources such as trained worker, facilities, and equipment – forces the controls to export their raw resources instead of processing it themselves. • A very small percentage (around 15% in the late 1990s) of the regions GDP comes from manufacturing

11. Communication: The Internet • http://www.ted.com/talks/juliana_rotich_meet_brck_internet_access_built_for_africa.html