The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and a researcher from Tufts University are denouncing the results of 20 years of agricultural policies inspired by the “Green Revolution,” arguing that hunger and farmers’ dependence on inputs have increased in the countries targeted by AGRA.
As the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) celebrates its 20th anniversary, two new reports are challenging the results of its agricultural model, supported in particular by philanthropic funding and promoted since 2006 in several African countries.
According to these studies, the number of undernourished people in the countries targeted by AGRA has increased by 58% since 2006, while the organisation had set itself the goal of halving hunger.
The reports also indicate that the growth in yields of major food crops has slowed since the launch of AGRA, despite fertilizer use having more than doubled in the region. The increase in agricultural
production is also attributed more to the expansion of cultivated areas than to improved yields.
Agricultural land has reportedly increased by 46% since 2006, a trend deemed contrary to the promise of “sustainable intensification” of agriculture.
The authors cite Senegal, which was not among the countries targeted by AGRA, as an example of a different trajectory. Over the same period, the country reportedly achieved the AGRA target of halving hunger for its participating countries.
“After billions were invested in policies aligned with AGRA, farmers have only become hungrier and more indebted,” said Mutinta Nketani, national coordinator of the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB).
For the organisations behind the reports, the alternative lies more in agroecology and food sovereignty. They highlight practices such as soil regeneration, the protection of local seeds, crop
diversification, and reduced reliance on costly agricultural inputs.
“The agroecological alternative is not theoretical. Farmers are already implementing it,” stated Million Belay, AFSA’s general coordinator, calling for increased funding for solutions developed by
farming communities.
The first report, titled “Requiem for the Green Revolution in Africa,” was published on August 17 by Timothy A. Wise, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Global Development and the Environment at Tufts University.
The second report, focusing on twenty years of data on the Green Revolution and agricultural alternatives, is scheduled for release on August 24 at a press conference bringing together researchers, farmers, and community leaders.
Among those speakers are Senegalese farmer Mariama Sonko, president of the pan-African movement “We Are the Solution,” active in seven West African countries, as well as Timothy A. Wise and Million Belay.
The conference, moderated by academic and author Raj Patel, will also showcase the experiences of farmers committed to production systems based on agroecology and greater independence from industrial inputs.
TE/fss/as/APA