Great post, Rachel. I completely agree with your commentary. Zachary’s failure to note the many recent (and not so recent) efforts to bring the Green Revolution to Africa seems like a fairly large oversight. Similarly, most neo-Green Revolutionaries don’t know (or tune out) the cautionary words of Norman Borlaug, the father of the original movement, who thinks Africa is not up to the task—not because of lack of technology and education or poor governance (although those may well be factors), but largely because of a critical lack of infrastructure, primarily roads. How can you expect to change anything if you can’t get inputs in or outputs out?

But beyond infrastructure, what troubles me is the development community’s failure (at least so far) to do a little retrospective analysis. What is the state of India and South Asia’s agriculture several decades after the first Green wave? Well, it’s not so good. Complete crop failure is not uncommon in Northern India, due in large part to excessive pesticide use that resulted in widespread pest resistance. And studies are linking the shockingly high rates of cancer in the area to water supplies tainted by years of excessive synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The list of troubles is far too long to fully name here.

Zachary’s article shows there is great potential—and demand—for expanding agriculture in Africa. Accomplishing this expansion, though, will require some creativity and a departure from the status quo—a position where many seem all to comfortable to stay. Rather than blindly assigning old solutions like chemical fertilizer and seed-hybrids I would love to see some new ideas—better matching crops to landscapes and soil types, rather than trying to grow cotton and rice in water-strapped areas. Or maybe promoting the use of organic fertilizers rather than synthetic ones—a plan that is entirely possible if small farmers keep managing small plots, and which would avoid all the environmental and health damage. The original Green Revolution resulted in some wonderful outcomes, and prevented some awful ones. But past policies should always be reviewed and can always be improved. In this case, there are many lessons to be learned. Let’s hope Gates and others are spending some money on research and planning before jumping straight to implementation.