African activists fear reborn 'green revolution'

Introducing a "green revolution" in Africa will destroy indigenous crops in the continent and create loss of livelihood for peasant farmers, according to a group of African scientists and farmers. Melaku Woredu, an internationally renowned geneticist and conservationist from Ethiopia, said while a green revolution was initially successful in Asia decades ago, boosting production and successfully eradicating hunger in the region, the experiment soon fizzled out. "Returns started diminishing and small-scale farmers were evicted, resulting in loss of livelihood," he said.Woredu and his colleagues were in Ottawa, Canada to take part in a debate on the future of Africa food security and biodiversity.

In September 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, committed $150 million to launch a 'green revolution' to eradicate hunger in Africa. The term "green revolution" describes the rapid transformation of farming methods in the developing world to produce high-yield crops, attained through high-input farming.

With food shortages facing Africa now, Woredu said the idea of a green revolution is tempting, but he cautioned against forcing the concept on African farmers. The success of a green revolution, he said, depends on the availability of water resources because the crop types developed need a lot of moisture to grow compared to indigenous crops. This, he said, is not feasible in Africa, which is facing a rise in desertification.

But even in Asia, where the green revolution succeeded, it did so at the expense of indigenous crops. Ultimately, enhanced seeds developed in laboratories destroy indigenous crops that have adapted to weather conditions over the centuries, and also damages crop diversity, which is important for maintaining the type of balance needed for the successful growing of crop varieties.

"It's not only about production, because production is not synonymous with food security," said Woredu."To sustain production for a long time there needs to be stabilization otherwise you end up with the law of diminishing returns."

But even though the current farming methods in Africa have contributed poorly to maintaining food security, Woredu said it is important to put emphasis on finding methods to boost food production using indigenous seeds on the continent. He pointed out that high-input farming using enhanced seeds in southern Africa didn't prevent drought in the region a couple of years ago, as the crops perished, leaving only the indigenous ones prevailing.

Scientific arguments aside, the green revolution will benefit multinationals who aim to create large-scale production of food that will drive the continent's peasant farmers out of business and force them to become a source of cheap labour, said Mamadou Goita, a farm movement leader from Mali, who was also in Ottawa. Mr. Goita said any efforts to introduce a green revolution in Africa must involve seeds indigenous to the region. "That's why we say 'green revolution for whom?' Because if we take the way they want to deal with it, this will be a green revolution for corporations, for input dealers and for agri-business. "It won't benefit the small-scale farmers. For instance in Canada, you have two per cent of the population working in agriculture, but in Mali, it's 83 per cent of the population" he said.

Goita said that concerned farmers in Africa have already initiated dialogue with the Gates Foundation and spoken to a senior manager working on the green revolution issue. "He said they are open-minded on the issue and we even invited them to come to Africa so that we can discuss the issue. We had some common understanding regarding the necessity of further debate on it."

Colleen Ross, Women's President of the National Farmers' Union in Canada, said the concept of a green revolution in Africa should be approached with caution because of the experience in Asia and Canada. "In Canada it took off based on promises, using fertilizers, herbicides, and fungicides," she said. "We have a farming crisis in Canada that is crippling our rural communities and we are still being offered the same: More global trade and more science and trade. That's what got us into this mess." Ross, who owns an organic farm south of Ottawa, said the average Canadian farmer loses $20,000 a year because of the stifling efforts of globalization.

Getu Hailu, a professor of agriculture, economics and business at Guelph University in Ontario, said that while it is true that some seed types adapt better to some environments, the success of a green revolution in Africa will depend on the methods used. "Are you involving the local community or is it a top-down approach? I think the community should be involved, otherwise it would not be successful," he said.

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