By Julius Sigei, Expressions Africa
When the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation launched the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in 2006, it was billed as a game-changer for the continent’s hunger crisis. Africa would get the sort of productivity revolution that could reduce hunger, enrich livelihoods and create jobs.
“Sustainable intensification” was the goal – getting more food from the same land; the ‘green in the name being an alternative to “red revolutions” which were sweeping through Asia in the 1960s.
While this ambitious project appeared from the onset as the sort of aid that could transform Africa’s agricultural sector and feed its growing population, AGRA is now hard-pressed to demonstrate its achievements after 15 years and one billion dollars in funding.
The criticisms against AGRA are gaining momentum and emanate from diverse quarters. The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), the continent’s largest civil society network, comprising 35 groups that involve some 200 million food producers, has embarked on a robust campaign, painting AGRA as a misguided effort that has fallen short in bringing any sort of productivity revolution in its 13 focus countries.