Using industrial methods of production in fragile ecosystems can have dreadful consequences. Droughts in the Sahel may have been made worse by cash cropping and a dependence on exports, whereas improvements to traditional methods and systems may have been a sign of more sustainable development. What is true is that at the height of the 1980s famine in Ethiopia, considerable exports of food took place. It offers one example of the difficulties brought about by a modern agricultural model in circumstances which are ecologically fragile.
Students study the satellite images to identify key features with the help of an atlas.
They then compare these images, noting what has changed and what they would need to know before they could account for these changes. Click here to go to tasks 1 and 2. Next students read two short text items, which describe different approaches to agriculture. They describe the likely advantages and disadvantages of each approach for farmers, commercial peanut buyers, the government, nomadic herdsman and the European customer. They also consider which approach is more likely to resist a period of drier weather.