Latest Resources
5 May 2017
Green Revolution Factsheet 3: Farmers have alternatives
The third factsheet in this 8-part series looks at the alternatives to industrial monoculture. Chichewa | English | Nyanja | Portuguese | Sesotho | Setswana | Shona | Siswati | Swahili | For the next factsheet in the series, click here.
5 May 2017
Green Revolution Factsheet 2: What is wrong with the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution is the introduction of high-yielding seed varieties and modern farming techniques. Part 2 of this 8-part factsheet series looks at what is wrong with the Green Revolution on the African continent. Chichewa | English | Nyanja | Portuguese | Sesotho | Setswana | Shona | Siswati | Swahili | Xhosa Click here […]
5 May 2017
Green Revolution Factsheet 1: What is the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution is the introduction of high-yielding seed varieties and modern farming techniques. Our 8-part factsheet series explores the impact of these developments on food production and farming. Chichewa | English | Nyanja | Portuguese | Sesotho | Setswana | Shona | Siswati | Swahili | Xhosa For the next factsheet click here. Download […]
3 April 2016
Africa to lose heritage crops to multinationals ‘donating’ GM technology
The African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), in a new report titled, “For your own good!” The chicanery behind GM non-commercial ‘orphan crops’ and rice for Africa shows that the GM industry is expanding its grasp to African traditional crops such as cassava, sorghum, sweet potato, pigeon pea, cowpea, banana as well as rice under the […]
4 December 2015
The expansion of the commercial seed sector in sub-Saharan Africa: Major players, key issues and ...
Sub-Saharan Africa’s seed systems are undergoing a profound transition, with the private sector leading the way. This report outlines some of the major trends and activities of the major players involved in this, from Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the broader donor community.
30 August 2015
AFAP in Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania—for profits or people?
The chemical fertiliser push in Africa and its implications for smallholder farmers is not receiving enough attention in current discourses concerning Green Revolution policies and practises in Africa. Yet chemical fertilisers are big business on the continent, where its adoption is strongly supported by African governments through subsidy schemes and regional organisations such as NEPAD, […]
6 October 2014
Running to Stand Still: Small-Scale Farmers and the Green Revolution in Malawi
According to ACB lead researcher, Dr Stephen Greenberg, “small-scale farmers are using shockingly high levels of synthetic fertilisers at great financial costs to themselves and the public purse. Rising soil infertility is a feature of farming systems reliant on synthetic fertiliser. We found that farmers are increasingly adopting hybrid maize seed, encouraged by government subsidies […]
15 September 2014
The political economy of Africa’s burgeoning chemical fertiliser rush
The African Centre for Biosafety has today released an in-depth report, The Political Economy of Africa’s burgeoning chemical fertiliser rush, which looks at the role of fertiliser in the Green Revolution push in Africa, some of the key present and future fertiliser trends on the continent and the major players involved in this. The value […]
3 July 2013
Modernising African Agriculture: Who benefits? Civil Society statement on the G8, AGRA and the Af...
African agriculture is in need of support and investment. Many initiatives are flowing from the North, including the G8’s ‘New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa’ and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). These initiatives are framed in terms of the African Union’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). This […]
3 June 2013
G8 “Hunger Summit” initiative rejected by African civil society – Corporate tak...
At the heart of the leading initiatives to ‘modernise’ African agriculture is a drive to open markets and create space for multinationals to secure profits. Green revolution technologies – and the legal and institutional changes being introduced to support them – will benefit a few at the expense of the majority. As world leaders gather […]