Report highly critical of the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations
Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations' Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
October, 20 2006, Oakland, CA: The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First, today released a report that is highly critical of the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations' $150 million "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" (AGRA). The Food First Policy Brief is titled:
Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations' Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Eric Holt-Gimenez, Ph.D., Miguel A. Altieri , Ph.D., and Peter Rosset, Ph.D.
To read the complete report, click on the following link: http://www.foodfirst.org/policybriefs
The authors-all distinguished experts on rural development-show how the recently announced $150 million "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" fails to take into account the failures of the original Green Revolution. The creators of AGRA promise to bring benefits to the African continent's impoverished farmers who-they claim-have until now been bypassed by the first Green Revolution. In what appeared to be an orchestrated move, one day after that announcement, Jacques Diouf, Director General of UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), called for support for a "second Green Revolution" to feed the world's growing population. UN boss Kofi Annan also weighed in to support the initiative.
The AGRA plan is remarkable given that over the last 20 years, the CGIAR-which brings together all the key Green Revolution research institutions-has invested 40-45% of their $350 million-a-year budget in Africa. If these public funds were not invested in a Green Revolution for Africa, then where were they spent? If they were spent on the Green Revolution, then why does Africa need another one? Either the Green Revolution's institutions don't work, or the Green Revolution itself doesn't work-or both. The Green Revolution did not "bypass" Africa. It failed. Because this new philanthropic effort ignores, misinterprets, and misrepresents the harsh lessons of the first Green Revolution's multiple failures, it will likely worsen the problem. The report discusses the following ten reasons why:
1. The Green Revolution actually deepens the divide between rich and poor farmers.
2. Over time, Green Revolution technologies degrade tropical agro-ecosystems and expose already vulnerable farmers to increased environmental risk.
3. The Green Revolution leads to the loss of agro-biodiversity, the basis for smallholder livelihood security and regional environmental sustainability.
4. Hunger is not primarily due to a lack of food, but because the hungry are too poor to buy the food that is available.
5. Without addressing structural inequities in the market and political systems, approaches relying on high input technological solutions fail.
6. The private sector alone will not solve the problems of production, marketing and distribution
7. Introduction of genetic engineering-the driving force behind AGRA initiative-will make smallholder systems more environmentally vulnerable in Sub-Saharan Africa.
8. The introduction of GE crops into smallholder agriculture will likely lead to the indebtedness of these farmers.
9. AGRA's assertion that "There Is No Alternative" (TINA) ignores the many successful agroecological and non-corporate approaches to agricultural development that have grown in the wake of the Green Revolution's failures.
10. AGRA's "alliance" does not place smallholder farmers-the principal actors in agricultural improvement-in the driver's seat. In fact, peasant organizations have already put forward a more coherent alternative, called "food sovereignty," which more accurately addresses the underlying causes of rural poverty and hunger in Africa and other regions of the world.
To read the complete report, click on the following link: http://www.foodfirst.org/policybriefs
To arrange interviews with the authors, please contact: Eric Holt Gimenez eholtgim@foodfirst.org, Peter Rosset rosset@globalalternatives.org, Miguel Altieri agroeco3@nature.berkeley.edu
Contact: Eric Holt Gimenez at 510-654-4400 ext 227 or cell at 202-288-8699
Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations' Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Eric Holt-Gimenez, Ph.D., Miguel A. Altieri , Ph.D., and Peter Rosset, Ph.D.
To read the complete report, click on the following link: http://www.foodfirst.org/policybriefs
The authors-all distinguished experts on rural development-show how the recently announced $150 million "Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa" fails to take into account the failures of the original Green Revolution. The creators of AGRA promise to bring benefits to the African continent's impoverished farmers who-they claim-have until now been bypassed by the first Green Revolution. In what appeared to be an orchestrated move, one day after that announcement, Jacques Diouf, Director General of UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), called for support for a "second Green Revolution" to feed the world's growing population. UN boss Kofi Annan also weighed in to support the initiative.
The AGRA plan is remarkable given that over the last 20 years, the CGIAR-which brings together all the key Green Revolution research institutions-has invested 40-45% of their $350 million-a-year budget in Africa. If these public funds were not invested in a Green Revolution for Africa, then where were they spent? If they were spent on the Green Revolution, then why does Africa need another one? Either the Green Revolution's institutions don't work, or the Green Revolution itself doesn't work-or both. The Green Revolution did not "bypass" Africa. It failed. Because this new philanthropic effort ignores, misinterprets, and misrepresents the harsh lessons of the first Green Revolution's multiple failures, it will likely worsen the problem. The report discusses the following ten reasons why:
1. The Green Revolution actually deepens the divide between rich and poor farmers.
2. Over time, Green Revolution technologies degrade tropical agro-ecosystems and expose already vulnerable farmers to increased environmental risk.
3. The Green Revolution leads to the loss of agro-biodiversity, the basis for smallholder livelihood security and regional environmental sustainability.
4. Hunger is not primarily due to a lack of food, but because the hungry are too poor to buy the food that is available.
5. Without addressing structural inequities in the market and political systems, approaches relying on high input technological solutions fail.
6. The private sector alone will not solve the problems of production, marketing and distribution
7. Introduction of genetic engineering-the driving force behind AGRA initiative-will make smallholder systems more environmentally vulnerable in Sub-Saharan Africa.
8. The introduction of GE crops into smallholder agriculture will likely lead to the indebtedness of these farmers.
9. AGRA's assertion that "There Is No Alternative" (TINA) ignores the many successful agroecological and non-corporate approaches to agricultural development that have grown in the wake of the Green Revolution's failures.
10. AGRA's "alliance" does not place smallholder farmers-the principal actors in agricultural improvement-in the driver's seat. In fact, peasant organizations have already put forward a more coherent alternative, called "food sovereignty," which more accurately addresses the underlying causes of rural poverty and hunger in Africa and other regions of the world.
To read the complete report, click on the following link: http://www.foodfirst.org/policybriefs
To arrange interviews with the authors, please contact: Eric Holt Gimenez eholtgim@foodfirst.org, Peter Rosset rosset@globalalternatives.org, Miguel Altieri agroeco3@nature.berkeley.edu
Contact: Eric Holt Gimenez at 510-654-4400 ext 227 or cell at 202-288-8699
89% of Americans want GM labeling
