Daily Nation, Kenya
AGRA promised to cut hunger in half, but nearly two decades and billions of dollars later, Africa is hungrier than ever.
When international donors join African government and business leaders for the annual Africa Food Systems Forum in Dakar, Senegal later this month, one hopes they will come with open minds. Their host, AGRA – the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa until it dropped “green revolution” from its name – has failed spectacularly to deliver on its promise of a “productivity revolution” that would cut hunger in half. It needs new ideas.
Meanwhile, its Senegalese hosts, who only recently joined the alliance and until now have not adopted AGRA’s one-size-fits-all policies, have actually cut severe hunger in half over the last two decades. According to recent United Nations global hunger estimates, since 2004 Senegal has reduced the number of chronically “undernourished” to just 5% of its population.
Meanwhile, Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole has seen a 66% increase in the number of hungry residents since AGRA began in 2006, adding 100 million to the rolls of Africa’s hungry. AGRA’s core member countries as a group have performed no better.
On the eve of AGRA’s Food Systems Forum, delegates should reconsider the flawed premises of AGRA’s failed Green Revolution policies. They should instead learn from countries such as Brazil, which has dramatically reduced hunger in just the last few years.
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