Is a Green Revolution in the Works for Sub-Saharan Africa?
“After decades of mistreatment, abuse, and exploitation, African farmers—still overwhelmingly smallholders working family-tilled plots of land—are awakening from a long slumber,” writes G. Pascal Zachary in the Winter 2008 issue of the Wilson Quarterly. In “The Coming Revolution in Africa,” Zachary argues that sub-Saharan Africa’s small-scale farmers—who constitute 60 percent of the region’s population—are making important gains that could transform them into key economic and political players in their countries.
Several factors are contributing to the growth of sub-Saharan African agriculture, says Zachary, including:- Rising prices for crops, including corn and coffee, partially due to the global ethanol boom;
- Growing use of modern agricultural techniques and products such as fertilizer, irrigation, mechanization, and improved seed varieties;
- Increasing urbanization, which frees up land in the countryside, creates consumers for crops, and links farmers to global markets; and
- African governments’ growing recognition of the crucial economic role played by small-scale farmers. “African governments seem likely to increasingly promote trade and development policies that advance rural interests,” says Zachary.
Zachary’s focus on this positive trend is a welcome one, and the stories he tells of the struggles and successes of Ugandan and Malawian farmers are compelling. I was puzzled, however, that he did not mention the significant (though admittedly recent) efforts in this area by organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, which have partnered to form Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which targets small-scale farmers and their families. On January 25, 2008, Gates announced his foundation would give out $306 million in new agricultural development grants, with $164.5 million—the largest grant—going to a five-year program run by AGRA to revive small-scale farmers’ depleted soils. Additional grants will support the development of agricultural science and technology, farmer extension services, and market systems.
In addition, although Zachary’s optimism is refreshing, he is perhaps too dismissive of the serious challenges facing these farmers, which include climate change, water scarcity (especially as irrigation becomes more widespread), high population growth, lack of access to health care, weak land tenure laws, and civil strife. But with more global attention, better national and international policies, and more financial support, small-scale African farmers may indeed overcome these obstacles and help lead their countries out of poverty.