by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

The major goal of the Ministry of Agriculture is to develop a sustainable agricultural system
that would provide at least one meal per day, according to the teachings of the Most Honorable
Elijah Muhammad for the 40 million black people in America. Also this system should
provide the necessary raw materials for the production of clothing and housing for the 40 million or
more black people in America. This requires the attainment, proper utilization and conservation of
the useful land and using science and technology to make the non-useful land useful.

According to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, of the 57,255,000 square miles of
land on the earth 29,000,000 square miles are classified as “producing” or
“useful”. How does the teacher of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Master Fard Muhammad,
determine what is “useful land”? How do we determine the value of land when we do not know
how to properly utilize the land? How do you make non-useful land useful? How many acres of land
will be necessary to feed 40 million people?

Back in 1934 when the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was codifying the Teachings of Master Fard
Muhammad there were 4,400,000,000 Original or indigenous people and 400,000,000 Caucasians.
According to those same teachings the Original people used 23,000,000 square miles while Caucasians
used 6,000,000 square miles. Each square mile of land consists of 640 acres. So when you multiply by
acres per square mile and then divide by the population of the two groups, you find that each
Original uses on average 3.35 acres while each Caucasian uses on average 9.6 acres.

Therefore, although the Original or indigenous people out number Caucasians 11 to 1, as
individuals Whites utilize almost three times the amount of “useful” land than an Original
or indigenous person. Below we have included a chart using data obtained from the World Book
Encyclopedia on population per square mile for six continents. Although you find the different races
of people on each continent, most will agree that Europe and North America are predominantly
Caucasian. According to the data Europe enjoyed a population density of about 170 people per square
mile and North America had a population density of about 40 people per square mile in 1981. In fact
in 1981 the population density of Europe was greater than Asia’s 160 people per square mile. Now
one does not hear very much about starving children in Europe but one sees stories on the TV about
starving children in some of the Asian countries.

Now when we look at Africa which is portrayed as always on the brink of starvation, we find that
Africa in 1981 had a population density of about 40 people per square mile, almost exactly the same
as North America. By 2001 Africa’s population density increased to about 70 people per square mile
which was still less than one third of Asia’s 220 people per square mile, and less than half the
population density of Europe.

Now let us analyze the data. Europe and Asia both have high population densities but Europe seems
to have plenty of food. North America and Africa have comparatively low population densities, but
North America has ample food while Africans starve.

What is the explanation? Well maybe Caucasian people are better farmers than Blacks and Asians.
Or maybe Caucasian people not only utilize the land base on which they are settled, but also have
the power to draw food and resources from Africa and other places while the indigenous people are
politically or economically locked out of utilizing the land beneath their feet.

Take Zimbabwe for instance. According to President Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s land crisis began in 1895
when the European powers set down to partition Africa among themselves. Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Kenya, Nigeria and Namibia went to Britain. The Europeans first entered the land looking for mineral
resources. They did not find as much gold as they had anticipated so they turned to grabbing land
and practicing “ethnic cleansing” to secure it. Instead of paying their soldiers in gold,
they paid them in land. white British soldiers who fought in World Wars I and II were given the best
farm land in Zimbabwe while the black soldiers were given bicycles. Over time this gift to white
British soldiers grew to 46.6% of Zimbabwe’s agricultural land and was comprised of the best land.

When Zimbabwe won its fight for liberation from the colonial rule of Britain in 1980, the white
population was 60,000 while Black population of Zimbabwe was 12,500,000. Of the 60,000 whites only
4,000 were farmers, but that class owned 46.7% of Zimbabwe’s farm land. These white farmers held
40% of their land for speculative purposes and did not farm them, but would not lease them out to
Blacks to grow food. The “mystery” of Blacks starving in Africa is now revealed; whites
own the best agricultural land, because they stole it.

By 2002 Zimbabwe had transferred over 90% of the white owned farms and distributed the acres to
black farmers. However, now there are reports of food shortages and low yields in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe
has turned from a net exporter of food when the majority of the farm land was controlled by Whites
to a net importer now that the land is controlled by Blacks. To understand what is happening in
Zimbabwe and other former colonies of the West, we must get an understanding of what can make land a
productive asset or an unproductive liability. Land by itself does not produce food. You must have
seeds, labor, equipment, transportation, markets, access to capital and enforceable contracts.

Black farmers in America are loosing their land, while acres of Black owned farm land are sitting
idle. The same principles that cause Black land loss in America can be used to analyze low
productivity of agriculture in other Third World countries. In a future article we will discuss how
useful land can be made useless by a failed or non-sustainable agricultural system.