# Why Africa’s agricultural crisis is a matter of race, class and epistemicide

> Africa’s agricultural crisis stems from colonialism, land inequality, and the erasure of indigenous knowledge systems.
- Title: Why Africa’s agricultural crisis is a matter of race, class…
- Summary: Africa’s agricultural crisis stems from colonialism, land inequality, and the erasure of indigenous knowledge systems. Africa’s agricultural crisis reflects…
- Keywords: african agricultural crisis, indigenous knowledge, land inequality, epistemicide, regenerative landculture, soil health, food security, sovereignty, colonialism, race, class, news
- Source: Daily Maverick — https://dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-10-08-why-africas-agricultural-crisis-is-a-matter-of-race-class-and-epistemicide
- Author: Nazeer Sonday
- Published: 2026-10-08T18:02:21+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: african agricultural crisis, indigenous knowledge, land inequality, epistemicide, regenerative landculture, soil health, food security, sovereignty, colonialism, race, class, news
## Africa’s agricultural crisis roots
Africa’s reliance on industrial agriculture reflects colonialism, inequality, and the erasure of indigenous knowledge systems.
## Industrial agriculture’s failures
Industrial farming consumes 2% of global energy and generates 1.5% of carbon emissions through ammonia synthesis.
## Soil degradation impact
Two billion hectares of farmland abandoned globally due to soil degradation over the last 200 years.
## Nutritional depletion
Monocultures of rice, maize, and wheat provide 60% of human dietary energy but cause nutrient starvation.
## Public health risks
Synthetic pesticides cause elevated cancer rates, reproductive anomalies, and developmental delays in children.
## Epistemicide in action
Colonial discourses erased African agricultural knowledge, devaluing indigenous practices as primitive folklore.
## Bokoni terraces
Pre-colonial South Africa’s Bokoni civilization built stone-walled terraces for mixed farming systems between the 1500s and 1820s.
## Amílcar Cabral’s agronomy
Amílcar Cabral surveyed soils across Guinea-Bissau with 2,200 peasant farmers decades before modern climate science.
## Philippi Horticultural Area
Nazeer Sonday, a smallholder farmer, chairs the PHA Food & Farming Campaign protecting Cape Town’s 3,000-hectare Philippi Horticultural Area.
## Industrial farming collapse
Nazeer’s hydroponic tomato farm imploded within two years due to rising costs and low farmgate prices.
## South African land crisis
South Africa’s land reform favors politically connected elites, white farmers, and corporate agribusinesses over smallholders.
## Child malnutrition crisis
23% to 28.8% of South African children under five suffer severe food poverty and chronic stunting.
## Landculture solution
Vegkop Polyculture Farm uses indigenous regenerative strategies to restore soil health and recharge the Cape Flats Aquifer.
## Soil health as sovereignty
True agricultural sovereignty requires restoring land to people, honoring indigenous ecological science, and dismantling corporate monopolies.
## Key takeaway

Africa’s agricultural crisis reflects systemic racism, land inequality, and the loss of indigenous knowledge, requiring a shift to regenerative land practices.