The word famine is indelibly associated with Africa. Harrowing pictures of African babies with distended bellies, their faces covered in flies, skeletal bones showing through their skin, held by mothers too exhausted to stand up, haunt our television screens again as parts of Africa see the return of famine. Much of African agriculture is in crisis. On the same news bulletins have been occasional reports of thousands of squatters taking over prosperous commercial farms in the African nation of Zimbabwe, crying out for land taken from their ancestors more than a century ago. These news dispatches are connected. We need to understand how. African history lesson Twenty-five years ago I lived in Zimbabwe in a farming community in Matabeleland. Zimbabwe was then known as Rhodesia. The white commercial farmers in the area were mostly the descendants of British and South African settlers who had arrived in the colony in the 1890s and early 1900s, just as the Matabele themselves had moved into the area earlier in the 19th century. The white settlers had worked hard to develop their farms. They were the backbone of Rhodesia's economy, exporting their first-class agricultural products to other nations. They spearheaded the development of Rhodesia, whose citizens—black and white alike—then enjoyed the highest standard of living on the continent. But it was not to last. The winds of change that swept through Africa in the 1960s took away the security of the descendants of these early settlers. They had lived under the Rhodesian flag within the security of the British Empire for so long they were taken aback when London decided to dismantle its empire and return control of their African colonies to the indigenous peoples. They were so taken aback they, in fact, rebelled against England and declared their own independence in 1965. This was the first time any colony had done so since the American colonies broke away in 1776. The civil war that followed took its toll on the white farmers and their black African workers. Tens of thousands died in the seven-year conflict that began the birth pangs of the new nation. Control of the government passed to the indigenous African majority in 1980. Twenty years later Zimbabwe is still led by the man who was elected its first leader. Corruption, nepotism and bad management have taken their toll on the nation and its peoples. By some estimates the standard of living of the average black Zimbabwean has dropped by 20 percent. Tens of thousands of the minority Ndebele tribe have been massacred, and two thirds of the settlers of European descent have left—leaving only 70,000 whites in the country, 4,000 of whom are farmers. These farmers are still the mainstay of the Zimbabwean economy. Their tobacco and food products pay for essential imports, including fuel. Land reform has always been an issue. Demands for redistribution of land fueled the flames of the civil war. Twenty years after its conclusion, veterans of the war and many not old enough to remember the conflict are forcing the issue, reminding the world that their ancestral land was taken away by the white settlers—and now they want it back. The challenge for Zimbabwe lies in a simple fact: Any sudden acquisition of the white farmlands or exodus of the white minority will deal a severe blow to the country's economy. Not all farming is alike The farmers of European descent are known as commercial farmers, while most indigenous African farmers are subsistence farmers. The difference is that, while the native black population grows only enough food to meet its own needs, the white farmers operate on a larger scale, growing food to sell and export. Their food surpluses have fed the majority black-African population for decades and paid the country's import bill. The gap between the commercial and subsistence farmers is a cultural gap, one that is not easy to bridge. This problem is not just a Zimbabwean one. All over Africa, as European-descended settlers left after former European colonies gained independence, food crises have resulted. Fifty years ago Britain's African colonies comprised a bigger land area than the United States. Almost all of the colonies had been food exporters in colonial times. In a remarkable and tragic reversal, today almost all are food importers. Although this is partly because of a rapidly growing population, even a short-term visitor to Africa soon sees that much of the rich agricultural land is not in use while people try to eke out an existence on $10 or $20 a month. Prophecies of agricultural blessings The British colonies, in Africa and elsewhere, along with the self-governing dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, comprise the prophesied "multitude of nations" promised to Ephraim, son of the biblical patriarch Joseph, in Genesis 48:19. The descendants of his brother, Manasseh, were to become the greatest single nation on the face of the earth—the United States of America. Interestingly, these prophecies were to be fulfilled in "the last days" (Genesis 49:1), not in the time of the patriarchs themselves. The British Empire and Commonwealth, together with the United States, was prophesied to play a key role in world events at a time leading up to the second coming of the Messiah. Genesis 49:22 says of the descendants of Joseph and his two sons that they would be a "fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall." Using agricultural symbolism, God revealed that these nations were to bring great development to the many parts of the world into which they would spread. They would be major food producers, with their surpluses helping to feed the world. As the United States spread westward in the 19th century and the British Empire expanded around the world during the fulfillment of these prophesied blessings, families moved onto available land and began to produce the food that helped feed the industrial revolution. Family farms could be found all over the English-speaking world. The names of their owners were often the same as the names of owners on the other side of the planet. Even their small farming communities had the same names. The colonial era changed the face of farming. The small plots of land that their parents had left behind in Britain and on the continent of Europe were replaced by massive farms measuring in the thousands of acres. In many cases, as in the United States, they utilized virgin farmland that had not been used before for agriculture. Today family farms are under threat everywhere, not only in the former African colonies. In the former British territories of South Africa, hundreds of farmers and their families have been killed under the same pressures as the farmers in Zimbabwe. In the United States several hundred family farms per week go out of business, primarily due to economic pressure and urban sprawl. In Michigan, where I live, almost one million acres of farmland per year are lost to development, while the average age of farmers is almost 60. Drought and other bad weather conditions have severely hampered operations of farmers in North America and Australia. Government policies intended to help farmers often come too late or only make things worse a few years later. British farmers have suffered setbacks as a result of British membership of the European Union. European Common Agricultural Policy favors the smaller, low-productivity farms on the Continent at the expense of the high-intensity farmers in the United Kingdom. Bureaucracy drives farmers out of business. Some have resorted to suicide. Suicide hotlines have been set up for farmers in various parts of the world. Others feel that they are looked down upon by a world that favors industry and cities at the expense of farmers and rural communities. After all, most voters live in the big urban centers. As in Zimbabwe, where will the food come from in the future? A biblical lesson in agricultural management The Bible gives us a historical account of the farsighted genius of the patriarch Joseph. You can read it in Genesis 41. When the pharaoh had a dream that troubled him, Joseph was brought from his prison cell in Egypt to interpret the dream. Of course, it was really God who interpreted the dream for him, as Joseph made clear to the Egyptian monarch (verse 16). In his dream Pharaoh had seen seven fat cows coming up out of a river. These were soon followed by seven emaciated cows, which then ate up the fat cattle. He further saw seven "full and good" ears of corn that were soon followed by seven that were "withered and blasted with the east wind," the latter devouring the seven good ears of corn. The interpretation of the dream was that seven plentiful harvests would be followed by seven bad ones that would destroy the advances made during the good times. Verse 32 shows that the two visions confirmed that "the thing is established by God." It would surely come to pass. Joseph's advice to the Egyptian ruler was that he appoint a wise administrator over the kingdom's agricultural affairs to make sure that, when the good times came to an end, there would be sufficient food stocks to provide adequately for the nation during the time of famine. Pharaoh saw the wisdom of Joseph's advice and followed it. Fast-forwarding several thousand years, we see that the commercial farmers who unknowingly fulfilled the prophecy of the "fruitful bough" were men who thought ahead as did their ancestor Joseph. They developed their farms with their descendants in mind, wanting to hand over the land to them and keep their farms in the family for generations to come. Their desire for family prosperity contributed to the national prosperity of the lands in which they lived. The movement in Zimbabwe toward expelling white farmers from the land shows an absence of foresight and fails to take into account the cultural difference between commercial farming and traditional subsistence farming. Commercial farmers have to look far ahead while subsistence farmers don't. The inevitable result is greater food shortages in those areas in the future, with further demands for food aid from the United States, Canada and Australia—nations whose own food production must inevitably be affected by the rapid loss of family farms. Bad decisions bring consequences Will widespread food shortages follow from the African food crisis? In my experience in Zimbabwe—and also in West Africa, where famines were a frequent fact of life—I learned that famine is not usually caused by natural disasters. All too often famine is the result of mismanagement and lack of foresight. The long war in poverty-stricken Ethiopia and Eritrea is one such example. In the long standoff the warring sides chose to spend an average of $1 million a day on weaponry rather than on developing the agricultural infrastructure of their countries. With another severe famine looming, Western nations are understandably hesitant to send more food aid to the war-torn region, especially since many of the earlier supplies never reached famine victims. They were pilfered to advance the aims of political and military leaders. Such shortsightedness is nothing new. It has been around for thousands of years. Another story in Genesis provides a lesson for those involved in the African land crisis. The patriarch Joseph's grandfather was Isaac, the son of Abraham. Industrious like his father (and his future descendants) and blessed by God, Isaac prospered greatly in an alien land, receiving in one year "a hundredfold" (Genesis 26:12). "... He became very prosperous ... for he had possession of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him" (verses 13-14). One of the reasons Isaac had done so well was that he had irrigated his cropland. The jealous Philistines stopped up his wells (verse 15), and their leader told him to get out of the country. Isaac moved on, dug new wells and found the same jealousy forced him to move again and again—until finally he found a place where he could stay. There he again prospered. Eventually the leader of the Philistines, Abimelech, visited Isaac. Having seen that God blessed him with abundant agricultural output, Abimelech sought a covenant with Isaac, an agreement that would allow Isaac to live in peace, recognizing that his presence brought everyone greater prosperity. There was enough land for them all. Perhaps Abimelech's subjects would even learn from Isaac how to be better farmers. A question for the future Before major food shortages impact the nation of Zimbabwe, it would be far better for all concerned that a similar agreement be worked out. The issue is not the need to put right the mistakes of the colonial era. The question is one for the future: how to feed Zimbabwe's population. Once the white commercial farmers have left, they will not return—and Zimbabwe's agricultural production will suffer because of their departure. Certainly there was much that was wrong about colonialism. But other parts of the world have put the colonial era behind them and moved on to greater prosperity and development. It is 40 years since Africa's colonial era came to an end. Over recent decades the continent hasn't progressed but has gone backwards. It is the only continent whose people are worse off than they were 40 years ago. As many African commentators themselves are aware, much of the blame lies with their own governments. Whatever the faults of the colonial era, as a general rule Britain's African colonies enjoyed political stability and economic progress during their period of British sovereignty. At independence they were viable economic entities with constitutions that had been agreed upon between the nationalist parties that wanted independence and the government in London. After independence, however, in too many cases written constitutions were ignored—leading to endless power struggles and political instability that in turn led to economic problems. Governments often interfered in the marketplace by freezing agricultural prices to protect potentially troublesome workers in urban areas. The result was a severe decline in farming production and a mass exodus off the land. When land reform has taken place, it generally has not benefited the average citizen. Large, previously prosperous farms were given to prominent politicians whose interests were not in farming. This was the case in Zimbabwe. Jesus' words on government in Matthew 20 are sound advice for leaders to consider: "... Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave" (verses 26-27). Ideally, government exists to serve the people. All human governments fall short in this regard. There is a crisis in agriculture around the world. The descendants of farming families that settled throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th and 20th centuries are being driven off the land in great numbers. They helped feed the world during a time of rapid population growth, but now world agricultural production is threatened by their loss. Governments need to understand this and change their policies to encourage these productive farmers to continue to produce the food the world will need as its population continues to grow. But how do these trends in Africa fit into the overall pattern of world conditions? Where are all these problems taking us? GN