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were given easy employment by the civil service, that had a natu- 

 ral draining effect on the countryside. But I think that in the long 

 nm that what is going to keep people in the country is a feeling 

 that there is a viable living for them to be had there. And the best 

 way to do that is precisely through some of these natural resource 

 management and other approaches to gprassroots community in- 

 volvement in caring for their resources. Because it will make their 

 resources more productive, and it gives them a sense of ownership. 

 They begin to make some money. They see some economic possibili- 

 ties. 



And grassroots credit programs, which we are having a lot of ex- 

 perience with, are another way of putting economic vitality into the 

 villages. And that is what is going to keep people in those villages. 

 They do not want to leave. If they can see a viable way of staying 

 home in their villages, they are very attached to them, and they 

 will do that. 



That is why Peace Corps has had such an impact. The Peace 

 Corps above all, besides helping people cope with practical prob- 

 lems, is seen by Africans as an expression of faith by the outside 

 world in the viability of their situation. And that means a great 

 deal to them. 



Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. And urban pollution discharge, are some 

 countries or cities in the continent doing more to deal with this sort 

 of problem? 



Mr. Pringle. I know that this is a tremendous issue in South Af- 

 rica. And I think that they are particularly concerned about it. Of 

 course, they are more advanced and more industrialized than most 

 of the other sub-Saharan economies. As far as the rest of the con- 

 tinent is concerned, and it is a very crude generalization, everyone 

 realizes that urban pollution problems are very considerable. I 

 think that they have been somewhat neglected in my view, if only 

 because there is so much to be done in the rural areas. Because 

 that is where you have got to focus your efforts, if you are going 

 to get economic growth going. 



Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. We have already touched upon the agricul- 

 tural productivity in Africa having failed to keep pace with the 

 growth of the population over the past 30 years, despite the expan- 

 sion of the land area under cultivation. 



What can African countries do and what can the administration 

 do to help them reverse the declining per capita food production 

 without further harm to the environment? And we have alluded to 

 some of those steps already. 



Mr. Pringle. Much of the structural adjustment agenda, albeit 

 somewhat controversial in some circles, in the last 10 years has 

 been a big step in this direction. Because it has made it possible 

 for farmers to get a fair return on their product. I saw this very 

 dramatically in Mali. Mali has become food self-sufficient. It was 

 a Sahelian problem a decade ago. Admittedly, the rains have been 

 very good lately. I realize that has had a lot to do with it. 



Mali for the first time exported rice this year, which would have 

 been unthinkable a few years ago. Cattle exports are back up. That 

 is a direct result of CFA devaluation, and of government policy 

 which is allowing the markets to work, which they did not in the 



