New Vision (Kampala)

Africa: The Continent's Alliance for a Green Revolution a Hoax

opinion

Kampala — THE term "Green Revolution" was coined in 1968 by then director of the United States Agency for International Development. He coined it to describe the so-called success in India and South East Asia, of an agriculture model that increased crop production in wheat, maize and rice.

The model comprised a package of inorganic fertiliser, herbicides, pesticides, laboratory development, hybrid seeds, mechanisation and extensive irrigation projects.

This Asian Green Revolution is celebrated by its proponents as having brought sufficient and affordable food to the poor. What with the total food available per person in the world rising by 11% and the estimated number of hungry people falling from 942 million to 786 million, a 16% drop?

However, if China, where the number of hungry people dropped from 406 million to 189 million is eliminated from the equation, the number of hungry people in the rest of the world actually increased by more than 11% from 536 million to 597 million. In South Asia, there was 9% more food per person by 1990, but there were also 9% more hungry people.

The success, the chest-thumping Rockefeller Foundation, was and is still celebrating, therefore, was not theirs because there were two revolutions taking place at the same time, the successful one being the Chinese.

Despite the claims of increased food production, widespread hunger still persists in countries such as India that have food surplus for significant export.

With the Green Revolution people have argued, lamely, that increase in population will not increase the number of hungry people in the world.

Let us face it, the expensive package of inorganic fertilisers, improved seeds and pesticides favoured a minority of economically privileged farmers. However, it dispossessed the majority small-holder farmers who had acquired loans to keep in step with the revolution, but had to sell off their land to repay their loans. The farmers were rendered destitute in the end. Those with too much pride to beg opted for suicide, as reported in The New York Times in October 2006, and those without, migrated to towns to live on streets.

In September, 2006, the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations teamed up to form the "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" (AGRA). After forming the alliance they declared it was Africa's turn to benefit from the Green Revolution.

However, todate Africa has not benefited from the Green Revolution alliance.

First and foremost, it is a well known fact that Bill Gates has substantial private investments in genetic engineering. Together with powerful transnational corporations such as YARA Foundation; MONSANTO Corporation; SYNGENTA; their antennae have picked the signals that organic products rule in the developed North.

They are now desperately attempting to shift their markets to the weak economies in the South such as Africa. Even the blind can see the well-calculated move to take control of and make profit from every step of the African small holder production process.

Secondly, organic agricultural produce is attracting premium prices and can lead to tremendous transformation in the economies of African countries.

The International Trade Centre has projected that by 2010 the organic agriculture market could reach $46 billion in Europe, $45b in the US and $11b in Japan.

Africa, with her soils largely uncontaminated by chemicals, is poised to reap big and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa do not want that to happen.

Another target of the proponents of AGRA is the African safety net of an abundance of crop varieties and the wisdom to intercrop several varieties on one piece of land so that an attack of pests and diseases will not wipe out an entire harvest.

With the mono-culture type of farming and Africa's multitude of crop varieties narrowed down to a few developed in the lab, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa is exposing poor people to the possibility of 100% crop failure in a single season in the event of an attack of pests and diseases.

It happened in the US in the 1970s when leaf blight ( a bacterial disease) caused a 15% loss of the high yielding corn hybrids.

That is of course, not to mention the repeated attack of diseases like fusarium oxysporum and yellow sigatoka on banana plantations in Costa Rica.

Furthermore, the Green Revolution packages require heavy irrigation, yet there are already reports of declining water levels in Lake Victoria thanks to climate change. Digging boreholes to access water for irrigation will definitely exacerbate the draw down irreversibly.

AGRA's strategy called "There Is no Alternative" might be well-meaning, but erroneously conceived. Food sovereignty is the more prudent strategy and not corporate dependency.

The writer is the executive director of Support for Women inâ-àAgriculture and the Environment

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Comments Post a comment

  • Steve Klaber
    Aug 27 2009, 12:31

    Yes! Resist the overly expensive forms of agriculture. But develop your agriculture around your own needs with export as a low priority. Foreign currency usually does an economy more harm than good anyway. It is the source of what so many of you call the "resource curse". Produce enough surplus to store away for yourselves against the rainless day, and a little extra for dealing with some neighbor's emergency. As the stored surplus expires, make it into biofuel. Garden everywhere, harvest rainwater everywhere. Feed yourselves well. And harvest the weeds in your waters for fuel, and increase your water supply while solving your fuel shortage.

  • upliftdarace_144
    Aug 27 2009, 15:27

    This Global Warming Stuff Is A Complete Hoax . Man has so arrogantly told

    God, by inference, that God the Creator didn’t Create things quite right. The United

    Nations is just another attempt by Satan to build another Tower of Babel .

    If you want to know some real truth tune in to Alex Jones’ Infowars broadcast.

    You can listen 24 hours a day. It’s live for 4 hours and on continuous re-broadcast for the

    other 20 hours. Here’s a link to articles on the Hoax of Global Warming.

    [http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi]

    What is this hype of Global warming for ? It’s designed to give these phony

    scientists ( who actually act like they were taking part in the Creation itself ) and the

    organizations they represent control of the world’s natural resources. The GEORGIA

    GUIDESTONES is consistent with United Nations goals for the world.

    Here is a synopsis of the GEORGIA GUIDESTONES :

    [The Agenda Of The Antichrist aka The Georgia Guidestones (GG) ]

    10 POINTS LIKE THE 10 HORNS OR RELIGIONS OF THE BEAST

    [Revelations 13:1]

    And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 7

    heads (Kings) and 10 HORNS (Religious Kingdoms), and upon his horns ten crowns, and

    upon his heads the name of blasphemy

    THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

    1) MAINTAIN HUMANITY'S POPULATION UNDER 500 MILLION IN

    PERPETUAL BALANCE WITH NATURE

    2) GUIDE REPRODUCTION WISELY —IMPROVING FITNESS AND DIVERSITY

    3) UNITE HUMANITY WITH A LIVING NEW LANGUAGE

    4) RULE PASSION — FAITH — TRADITION AND ALL THINGS WITH

    TEMPERED REASON

    5) PROTECT PEOPLE AND NATIONS WITH FAIR LAWS AND JUST COURTS

    6) LET ALL NATIONS RULE INTERNALLY RESOLVING EXTERNAL DISPUTES

    IN A WORLD COURT

    7) AVOID PETTY LAWS AND USELESS OFFICIALS

    8) BALANCE PERSONAL RIGHTS WITH SOCIAL DUTIES.

    9) PRIZE TRUTH — BEAUTY — LOVE — SEEKING HARMONY WITH THE

    INFINITE

    10) BE NOT A CANCER ON THE EARTH — LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE —

    LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE

    In conclusion the directives for these GEORGIA GUIDESTONES call for : a) b) c) Elimination of around 7 billion residents d) e) f) Control of how many people are born g) h) i) The return of the system of ONE LANGUAGE as it was during the construction j) k) of the TOWER OF BABEL l) m) n) The other goals seem to infer that there isn’t currently a choice available to us that o) p) can help us to be better people. And there is a choice. q) r) s) But as the prophecy said in Daniel , The Beast/Antichrist will not allow any other t) u) worship, but of himself.

    Global Warming and all this false human-directed unity is designed to appeal to our

    personal pride , our lustful flesh and our unsatisfied eyes. But we can’t save our

    selves. We children need OUR FATHER GOD to fight for us against our evil older

    brethren Satan (formerly known as Lucifer) and His Fallen Followers.

    CHECK OUT THIS EYE-OPENING VIDEO ON THE SCAM SWINDLE OF GLOBAL WARMING 1) T

    HE GREAT GLOBAL WARMING SWINDLE

    - URL – [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMA6sszChwQ]

    Revelations 11:18

    And the nations were angry, and your wrath is here, and the time of the dead, that they

    should be judged, and that you should give reward to your servants the prophets, and to

    the saints, and them that fear your name, small and great; AND SHOULD DESTROY

    THEM WHICH DESTROY THE EARTH.

    - FEED YOURSELVES SUGGESTION -

    WE ARE MAKING HUNDREDS WHILE GIVING AWAY BILLIONS TO OUR ECONOMIC SLAVE MASTERS !!!

    THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE CAN'T TAKE CONTROL OF OUR OWN COUNTRY !

    NEIGHBORHOOD COOP GREENHOUSES

    ANOTHER SUGGESTION IS FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE CITY TO POOL

    THEIR RESOURCES TOGETHER AND MAKE NEIGHBORHOOD COOP

    GREENHOUSES . HERE YOU CAN GROW SOME KIND OF FOODS AND NOT

    BE TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GROCERY STORES.

    Scientists Debunk UN “Global Warming” [ http://www.infowars.com/scientists-debunk-un-global-warming/ ]

    WAKE UP ! STAY UP MY BROTHERS & SISTERS ! BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

    [http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] / [http://alexjonesringtones.net/]

    - Life Is a Game. Have Fun. [ Luke 18:17 / Isaiah 11:6 ]

    SO PLEASE WAKE UP MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS. GOD IS ALL WE NEED. You are In My Prayers. God Bless Us. God Bless Africa.

  • kwame
    Aug 28 2009, 09:55

    Please let your writer show evidence documentary or otherwise where AGRA has espoused a "There is no alternative" doctrine. It will be good to show this for all to see.