More than 60 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is engaged in farming. Twenty-three percent of the continent’s GDP comes from agriculture. With these numbers, Africa still has not reached its agricultural potential. Agriculture ranges from nomadic pastoralism to root-crop and tree crop systems. Rice is also one of the most harvested crops and constitutes a significant part of the African diet.
Rice is grown in about 40 out of 54 countries in Africa, and rice cultivation is the principal activity and source of income for more than 35 million smallholder farmers in Africa. In addition, food systems, including agro-processing, are expected to account for up to 40 percent of new jobs. A productive agriculture sector is needed to increase agricultural output and expand agro-processing.
Agricultural processes and other activities surrounding agriculture have the potential to create jobs, increase economic growth and reduce poverty in Africa. It is estimated that in 2021, 490 million people in Africa will live under the poverty line of 1.90 PPP$/day, and this is 37 million people, more than the projection without the pandemic. With most of the population living in rural areas engaged in farming, green revolution practices could help increase yields and economic return for smallholder farmers. The green revolution has improved wheat and rice production. Rice is a staple in Africa, and demand is growing by more than 6% per year.
To promote the green revolution, African governments would need to work with other stakeholders to provide access to affordable yield-enhancing seeds and give greater importance to sustainable practices to enable farmers to achieve high-yield returns.
Green Revolution (GR)
Green Revolution refers to agricultural practices that lead to the production of more agricultural products. Often attributed to Norman Borlaug, Green Revolution methods enable the production of more food for the world’s growing population. Research work in India by Borlaug led to the development of a variety of rice that produced more grains when grown with irrigation and fertilizers. As a result, India is one of the world’s leading rice producers, and the usage of green methods spread to other parts of Asia.
The green revolution uses high-yielding varieties of cereals and rice, meaning domesticated plants explicitly bred to respond to fertilizers and produce an increased amount of grain per acre planted.
The driving forces are:
- Use of modern technology
- Capital inputs.
- Utilizing modern scientific methods of farming,
- Adoption of high-yielding varieties of seeds.
- Proper use of chemical fertilizer
- Use of a variety of pieces of machinery.
Green revolution (GR) practices are needed to feed Africa’s increasing population and reduce malnourishment. The population of Africa has exceeded the productive capacity of the continent’s current food production systems, and the population growth rate remains high. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) predicts that Africa will experience significant food shortages and projects malnutrition to rise over the next 20 years.
Governments, development stakeholders, and the private sector must reverse the trend and improve agricultural productivity as a basis for food security and economic growth. Reversing the food shortage trend calls for restructuring and adopting not-so-new approaches like the green revolution.
GR can lead to a rapid increase in agricultural outputs. Between 1960 and 2000, yields for all the developing countries rose 208%. The economic benefit for GR in Africa can be enormous, considering the percentage of Africans currently engaged in agriculture. Additionally, GR can improve agriculture activities, which could help create the needed 12 to 15 million jobs required for youth entering the labor market.
India & China Green Revolution Initiatives
Countries like India and China have adopted the green revolution and have seen its benefits to their agricultural system and economy. In India, the green revolution was initiated in the 1960s with the introduction of high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat to increase food production and alleviate hunger. Note that India holds the second-largest agricultural land globally, and thus, agriculture plays a vital role in their economy.
According to the research, India saw a significant difference in its crop output by adopting the green revolution elements. The adoption brought a tremendous increase in grain output, amounting to 131million tons in a year.
The revolution helped India become self-sufficient in food grains and put them in a position where they could also export grains. There was also an appreciable increase in the demand for labor due to multiple cropping and fertilizers. Still, there were some difficulties due to the heavy use of fertilizers, which degraded their soil and made their indigenous seeds less efficient. Soil degradation called for reevaluating what seeds to use and the number of chemicals to apply to the ground. Although issues arose, India still benefited and saw how fruitful the green revolution was.
China’s green revolution focused on environmental sustainability, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, and swapping coal for clean energy. In addition, technologies such as solar wind energies, improvement of waste management, designing energy-efficient buildings, and adjusting consumer behavior were all part of China’s implementation of green revolution practices.
Africa’s Green Revolution Opportunity
Several international organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation, have introduced Africa to green revolution methods. These organizations have provided needed funds, information, and support to help solve farmers’ production problems. Smallholder farmers, who are primarily in rural areas and often have lower-yielding results, can benefit from some practices of the green revolution.
Across most of Africa, the government put the responsibility for implementing the green revolution on private firms. Governments believed that they would perform marketing functions more efficiently and increase machinery and infrastructure investments, making the initiative successful. Some governments privatized government agencies, removed the government from agricultural markets, and removed subsidies from the market.
In Asia, the government adopted the green revolution by engineering the input and output markets to promote the endorsement of yield-enhancing technologies. Asian governments also built infrastructures, provided subsidized inputs, and provided financial services to make the revolution work. African governments’ attempts or efforts have not been enough to yield the results that the green revolution can achieve.
The African countries that adopted the green revolution made it project-specific and focused on urban farms even though rural farms are more than urban farms. These countries made the GR projects have a time frame where the project ends after some time irrespective of if it achieved its goals. The poor farmers could not afford improved agricultural technologies due to high prices, and the time frame limits impacted the adoption of the green revolution.
The Rockefeller Foundation focused on funding its ‘market-led technology adoption’ agricultural program in Africa. The foundation discovered that Africa’s crops lacked plant nutrients in the soil and lost a significant portion of crops to pests, diseases, and abiotic stress. The foundation provided support by using the best breeding lines, scientific tools, and training for farmers through a more participatory method to deal with this issue. Africa’s rice, cassava, banana, maize, and sweet potatoes increased after the foundation proffered these solutions.
Africa’s climate also impacted how the soils would produce crops. The grounds in Africa are more rain-fed, often having too much or too little water. In addition, the use of expensive fertilizers, including abandoning traditional practices like leaving the soil fallow for a period to allow it to regain its lost nutrient and improve soil fertility, all impact the ground.
The foundation funded projects promoting locally adopted fertilizers and helped countries like Malawi and Kenya subsidize the expenses of fertilizers by producing targeted vouchers. The Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) was the most effective approach, birthing the African Fertilizer Summit in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2006. African leaders pledged to improve fertilizers for small-scale farmers and establish farmers’ funding mechanisms.
In 2005, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiated their funding of Africa’s agricultural sector by supporting the Rockefeller foundation. The collaboration birthed the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in 2006. As of 2020, AGRA has helped Kenya work on macro subsidy of the country’s agricultural sector, strengthening her vulnerability to inefficiencies and corruption. Tanzania has benefited from the fertilizer policy, which improved costly and repetitive registration processes and fees.
With AGRA’s support, Ghana has developed regulations for the use and control of poisonous substances like Aflatoxin, which has dangerous impacts on human and animal health. Ugandan farmers have access to loans after the foundation’s cabinet endorsed the Agricultural finance bill. At the same time, Mozambique farmers will benefit from local crop-specified fertilizer blends that would help with the country’s mass production.
Despite the challenges and support, African governments still have an opportunity to tap into the benefits of the green revolution to increase agricultural output and promote economic growth. Other African countries that are not of priority to AGRA are being neglected and not benefiting from its funding, but governments of these countries can still commit to GR practices. It is not advisable to wait for AGRA, but there should be government-funded initiatives to support GR measures.
Conclusion
African governments should move toward adopting technology in the agricultural sector that will feed its people. The green revolution presents an opportunity to provide economic benefits for the continent by increasing the output of smallholder farmers, creating jobs, and promoting economic growth. Africa can produce food to feed itself and the world, but it must first take advantage of the opportunities presented by the green revolution.
African governments must be willing to make agriculture development a reality by joining forces with development institutions, international agencies, and foundations like the Rockefeller and Gates foundations. African leaders also need to create awareness about balanced fertilization and soil health. Using green revolution measures can help increase the yield of small-scale farmers, who make up the majority of African farmers, thereby contributing to economic development. Providing the necessary tools and support for farmers will ensure their success in adopting the green revolution.
