The persistence of hunger and food crises across the world has spawned some false solutions. One of the most notable of these is the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), launched in 2006 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together with the Rockefeller Foundation, and supported by numerous international organizations and governments in the Global North, along with some African governments.
AGRA, registered in the United States, was founded to give new impetus to the fight against hunger in Africa with a corporate-driven “Green Revolution” approach. It promised to double the agricultural yields and incomes of thirty million small-scale food producer households by 2020, thus halving both hunger and poverty in the focus countries. The promises have been grand, but civil society organizations in Africa and beyond, as well as large numbers of African farmers, are raising critical concerns about the program, arguing that it has failed completely to fulfill its own agenda.
In autumn 2022, at its annual Green Revolution Forum, AGRA announced a “rebranding.”… Dressed up with a new logo and branding, the 2023–2027 plan is largely a continuation of the programs and initiatives it devised in 2006. The Alliance for Food Sovereignty (AFSA) issued a statement calling the changes “cosmetic,” “an admission of failure” by the Green Revolution project, and “a cynical distraction” from the urgent need to change course.
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