Origin of Food Production

Origin of food production
The ancient African population lived on hunting and gathering, the nomadic life and the need to keep each
community down to size related to the available wild animals and wild plants stunted the possibilities of
wild growth.
The early foragers found their food without too strenuous efforts. In many cases they obtained much of
their food from fishing but in some cases, they started to care for wild plants, grasses, yams and palm trees
which they had been gathering. The desire to increase food production was the major reason for a gradual
switch to Agriculture at first only in marginal environment.
Once people became sedentary in large numbers, the communities grew and food had to be produced
rather than gathered. As the environment gradually became less of a dictating agency, cultural and social
change could increase leading greater and greater variety in cultures.
It is argued that by 8000BC, all Africa still lived in the Stone Age but had entered the most refined period
of that age, the late Stone Age. Hunters and gatherers also known as foragers had interacted with their
environments in which they lived and to some extent cultured them.
Direct evidence about life in this period can still be found on the rare sites that have preserved stones and
organic material for example at Gwisho near the Kafue River in Zambia. The inhabitants belong to what is
called Wilton Stone Culture. The Wilton is characterized by a greater number of tool types than his
predecessors. They had a variety of tools like rubbing tools, spoon like instruments, ornaments and
composite arrows.
THE SPREAD OF FOOD PRODUCTION
Ceramics are a good indicator of a sedentary lifestyle because their weight and fragility make them
unsuitable for a nomadic life. Before 7500 BC pottery was invented in Africa and it was being made from
the banks of the Nile near Khartoum to air a mountainous region in Niger.
By 4000BC, pottery, pastoralism and agricultural based on wheat and barley were well established in
Northern Africa. A millennium later the crops and domestic animals reached the highlands and Ethiopia
and Northern Nigeria.
By 6000BC millet and sorghum were beginning to be domesticated in Egypt between C.3500 and
C.2500BC domesticated millet, sorghum and sesame were cultivated in Ethiopia and probably on the
southern part of the Sahara.
Moreover the farmers in the highlands of Ethiopia developed totally new crops such as cow pea or the
esente a relative of banana. They also began to integrate cattle into farming activities’ farmer would keep a
few herds of cattle feed on their milk and meat while fertilizing his field with the manure.
Once millets and sorghum had been domesticated farming and cattle keeping began to spread further
herders colonized the lowlands of the Horn from about 2000BC onwards while farmers and herders spread
southwards in East Africa and reached the Northern shore of lake Victoria by the same date.
By 1500BC herders had began to exploit the grasslands of the Northern Tanzania and pottery related to the
early farmers has been found even further south in East Central Tanzania.
In west Africa herders and farmers did not move away far southwards before they met with people who
practiced a different kind of food production known as vegeculture .The people had discovered that certain
roots and trees would grow again on the same spots provided they were buried and weeded. In this way
they gradually domesticated several types of yams and all sorts of guards, calabashes etc.
From about 400BC onwards the Egyptians raced ahead in technical improvements in pottery making, stone
carving, leatherwork, basketry and weaving. Soon copper and bronze tools appeared. The first known city
in Africa, Hierakonpolis emerged in Upper Egypt before 3500BC.Egypt became the earliest large-scale
centralized state known in the world. The Nile valley and the good transport system along the river
contributed greatly to Egypt’s success.
ANIMAL DOMESTICATION
In most parts of Africa, farmers used locally domesticated crops. Over time, some of the crops they had
domesticated spread to other areas of the globe...The main animals domesticated in Africa were the guinea
fowl. Other probably domestications include a cat and donkey. Others animals were introduced from
outside i.e. cattle, sheep, goats, camels and chicken.
Egyptians tried without success tried to domesticate gazelles. This is because the gazelles are too nervous
to be domesticated. Elephants were occasionally tamed.
By 600B.C.E domestic cattle were found throughout North Africa .They were probably introduced from
south west Asia. This strain of cattle eventually made its way across the Sahara into West and East Africa
N’Dama breed. The N’Dama breed is a small cow that is highly resistant to diseases. Camels first
domesticated in Arabia, appeared in the Nile by 1600BCE.The chicken {from India} was common in
North Africa.
THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF FOOD PRODUCTION
1 The development of agriculture allowed for settled groups to become significantly bigger and also
allowed the creation of social hierarchies, the accumulation of wealth and creation of a government
2 Increased food production and enhanced the growth of a population.
3 As farming became established in Africa several different styles of food production emerged. These
variations were caused by the crops that were used and by the nature of the environment in North Africa
and Ethiopia. The plough was used to grow grains. In those regions where the plough was not used, the
hoe was the standard agricultural implement.
4For most African history, land has always been abundant but labours scarce. The greatest challenge in
farming societies is the access to labour. African societies organized labour in various ways. The most
common was the kinship group. Women were central to these kinship groups.
5 In most parts of Africa, soils are too poor to be formed continuously. The farmers practiced what is
known as shifting cultivation. They clear the trees and bush from the field and then burn. The heat from the
fire kills most of the weed seeds that compete with the crops. After a few years,2-3 the field is abandoned
to allow the soil recover nutrients.

Origin of Food Production

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Origin of food production

THE SPREAD OF FOOD PRODUCTION

THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF FOOD PRODUCTION

2 Increased food production and enhanced the growth of a population.

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