 The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) aims to develop
Africa’s agricultural capacity by working with farmers and scientists
to introduce new varieties of seeds of Africa’s major food crops that
are more productive and resilient. According to Kofi Annan, AGRA’s
chair, along with introducing educational programs to accelerate the
development of African agricultural expertise, AGRA will also “improve
the health of Africa’s soils water management initiative to help
Africa’s small-scale farmers get the most crops for each drop of water.”
Could this simply be rhetoric that has been heard
before? What role will AGRA really play in small farms in Africa? These
concerns form the basis of the campaign by faith-based organizations to
ensure that the harmful effects of the green revolution experienced in
Asia are not repeated in Africa.
NGO’s recognize that Africa is not producing enough food to feed its teeming population, so the difficulty with AGRA is who is going to produce the food and how will it be produced? What AGRA emphasizes is high-yielding crops to feed the people, but the emphasis is on only sorghum, cotton, corn, and flax, a relatively small variety of African crops. There is also concern over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) which has been a key advocacy issue with environmental NGO’s at the fore. Major disadvantages of the genetically modified crops include high water and nutrient consumption, and the need for fertilizers and pesticides to survive. Without these conditions fulfilled, GMO crops cannot produce as much as indigenous crops. The fears that AGRA will use GMOs have been confirmed, despite earlier denial by Kofi Annan.
Mass pollution, removal of soil nutrients, and fertilizer runoff to streams and rivers are bound to occur with large-scale cultivation of GMOs. Excess water use will have profound effect on water levels as was experienced in India and other parts of Asia where the water level has dropped drastically after the introduction of the green revolution. AGRA will also reduce biodiversity because it finances a few crops at the expense of others, like in the US where 75% of food is derived from 12 plants. Rise in cost among small scale farmers will result in small farmers losing their land thereby increasing inequality. Also, since inputs are to be supplied be multinational corporations, there is danger that agriculture in Africa will be controlled by foreign powers. Foreign bodies will eventually dictate the technology to be used, the land use practices, and financial modalities by institutions and governments that accept AGRA financing.
Such high-tech farming will not benefit local farmers but may make them more impoverished if corporations take over the farming business, which is what happened in the US. In addition, the high-tech monoculture will drive corporations to introduce GMO patents resulting in biopiracy of not only food but also medicine. Also, value will be detached from the farmer and placed on the seed as is the case in most countries in Asia. What this means for the farmer is that his concerns and problems will further be ignored and that they are not important in the food production process.
All of these issues will have far-reaching ramifications for development in Africa. There may be decreased resistance to HIV/AIDS because of reduced nutrients in food crops. In terms of debt, most African governments cannot finance seed production research, extension and hosting of protocol meetings and, if they agree to AGRA, eventually will be forced to borrow finances in order to support these projects thereby increasing their debt burden. It will also increase private debt for small scale farmers, resulting in exploitation and land control.
This is a new instrument of oppression by corporations to promote seed, fertilizer and pesticides sales since these crops can no longer be marketed in Europe and America because of chemical restrictions. Those involved in the deal – apart from the Rockefeller and Gates foundations – include multinationals such as DuPont pesticides production, Monsanto seed production, African Development Bank, World Bank, United State Agency for International Development (USAID), African Agric Biotech, Africa Rice Centre, and other American and European corporations.
The key challenges facing farmers in Africa are off-farm systems and market failures, not low-yield crops. There need to be improvements in market information systems, crop storage, processing, and transportation, along with advocacy for policies that support small scale farmers, rural development, environmental sustainability, and trade favorable to poor farmers in Africa.
AFJN is working with other organizations to fight underdevelopment in Africa and to give African farmers an alternative to the green revolution that will preserve biodiversity in crop production.
--Joseph Effiong
This article was featured in the November/December 2007 issue of Around Africa
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