Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is a ‘network of networks’, with a presence in most countries of Africa, comprising farmers’ organizations, pastoral groups, consumer and health groups, civil society organizations devoted to agro-ecology, small farm based farming, food and farming sovereignty. It has been attracting attention for the courageous stand it has taken in resisting big business interests which have been disrupting food and farming sovereignty and interests of indigenous populations and their knowledge systems which can provide a firm and reliable foundation for agro-ecology in Africa in keeping with local conditions.
While widespread hunger has been reported from several African countries and many of them are becoming more dependent on imports for meeting food needs, what is ignored in many reports on this issue is the extent to which big business interests, the pursuit of their narrow interests and distorted policies based on this have contributed to this hunger and dependence, a clear case of neo-colonial exploitation and distortions continuing the colonial exploitation and distortions. AFSA has made a strong case for changing all this on the basis of its exposures and opposition to such highly harmful trends.
On August 28 2024, the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) hosted a press conference, where they released a briefing paper revealing how AGRA (formerly the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) is using its “outsized power to exert undue influence on local, national and continental policymaking.” The briefing paper, “Pulling Back the Veil: AGRA’s Influence on Africa’s Agricultural Policies,” exposes how AGRA uses strategic financial backing and embedding of consultants in government institutions to entrench industrial models detrimental to farmers. This paper bolsters African faith leaders’ demand for reparations to the Gates Foundation, AGRA’s main funder, just days ahead of the ‘Africa Food Systems Forum’ taking place September 2-6 in Kigali, Rwanda, where, AFSA says, AGRA and its funders are expected to push their agenda further.
“The Green Revolution is a mirage; it’s colonisation in disguise promoting capitalism from the global North to continue controlling our food systems, environment, well-being, and livelihoods,” Sarah Haloba from the Zambian Governance Foundation, told investigators.
According to AFSA, “Despite the documented failures of its own initiatives, AGRA continues to undermine democratic processes by attempting to co-opt and dilute efforts by farmers advocating for agro-ecology.” This was clearly visible in Vihiga County in Kenya. Ferdinand Wafula, founder of Bio Gardening Innovations (BIOGI), said, “We can’t trust AGRA, the agent of industrial agriculture, to drive the agro-ecology agenda.”
Accordig to AFSA, at the continental level, AGRA’s involvement extends to the Post-Malabo process, a key policy initiative led by the African Union (AU), aiming to shape Africa’s next decade of agriculture. This included funding critical meetings, such as the gathering in Lusaka, back in July.
“Throughout the meeting in Lusaka, the sway of these Western entities in driving the process was palpable, overshadowing the voices of African farmers, civil society, and grassroots organisations,” wrote Million Belay, General Coordinator for the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa in a recent article in African Arguments.
Zambia: A Stark Warning
According to information provided by AFSA, a recent report by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) highlighted Zambia as a prime example of the disastrous outcomes of Green Revolution initiatives. Zambia’s food system is on the brink of collapse – 6 million households are at risk of hunger after Zambia’s maize production fell by 50% following a devastating drought. The report cites synthetic fertiliser use and monocultures as the main drivers of soil acidification, soil infertility and biodiversity loss, which increase vulnerability to climate shocks and pest attacks. This reflects the disturbing pattern across the continent where up to 80% of Africa’s cultivated land is already degraded, which will only worsen with Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs).
Mary Sakala, a Zambian farmer and chairperson of the Rural Women’s Assembly, shared her firsthand experience with the devastating impacts of these policies. “We used to grow diverse crops. But now governments and agribusiness have pushed farmers into monoculture that depends on inputs. Their programmes have made us all vulnerable.”
AFSA has alleged that instead of changing course, the Zambian government is following the lead of the Gates-funded AGRA by expanding its commitment to large-scale chemical-intensive farming, including possibly adopting UPOV standards (Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) which will further deteriorate farmer sovereignty.
A Demand to the Gates Foundation for Reparations
African faith leaders also publicised their letter to the Gates Foundation on August 28, demanding reparations for the extensive damage caused by AGRA’s aggressive push for industrialised agriculture.
“AGRA and the Gates Foundation, as well as seed and agrochemical companies – they are false prophets of food security. They claim to be messiahs for the hungry but have failed to deliver. Their industrial approach degrades soils, destroys biodiversity, and places corporate profits over people. It is immoral. Gates and big agribusiness are playing God,” said Bishop Takalani Isaac Mufamadi, who endorsed the letter by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI).
Faith leaders concluded the letter: “It’s time for international funders to transition towards agro-ecology through respecting and supporting locally defined holistic approaches in Africa, by Africa.”
Call to Action
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa has called for “urgent resistance against the corporate-driven agricultural model prioritising profit over people and the planet. AFSA urges all stakeholders to ensure that policy decisions reflect Africa’s farmers’ needs, not the interests of multinational corporations. The future of African agriculture must be guided by those who cultivate the land. Now is the time to act—our future depends on it.”
African farmers’ organizations express serious concern at the infiltration of policy by powerful promoters of industrial agriculture
Several humanitarian organizations have drawn attention to growing hunger in vast parts of Africa and their increasing inability to meet staple food needs of local people. However while analysing causes of this, an important factor that is often neglected is the role of big business interests in disruption of food sovereignty and self-reliance in Africa. The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), a network devoted to agro-ecology and food sovereignty and rights of small farmers and pastoral people of Africa, has been trying to fill this gap so that the African food and farming system can be protected from the highly damaging and disrupting impacts of big business onslaughts.
In a press release issued on August 27, 2024 AFSA has exposed the efforts being made by agro-business interests to infiltrate and influence policy-making. According to this note titled “Pilling back the veil’, “in recent years, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has shifted its focus away from direct fieldwork with farmers to exerting influence on government policy. This shift follows a critical donor-commissioned 2022 evaluation that showed AGRA had fallen far short of its goals to double farmer productivity and incomes and halve food insecurity with its narrow promotion of a few staple crops fed by synthetic fertilisers. That evaluation credited AGRA with being effective at influencing government policies, and that is what the Gates-Foundation-funded organisation is now focused on.”
Further this note says, “AGRA now argues that to attain agricultural transformation goals and targets, Africa requires strong policies, institutions, and leadership. To achieve this, AGRA is making a concerted effort to place external consultants within African government offices tasked with leading or supporting policy development initiatives. AGRA’s support often tends to create a policy environment conducive to the increased adoption of hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seeds, increased use of chemical fertilisers, and enhanced private sector involvement in agriculture.”
AFSA commissioned an investigative study to determine “the extent of AGRA’s influence and identify instances where they may have overstepped ethical boundaries, particularly in key policy areas where AGRA’s actions could be construed as undemocratic or coercive.” The focus countries for this investigation are Kenya and Zambia. “These countries have witnessed significant AGRA involvement in agricultural policies, particularly in areas related to agricultural investment priorities, seeds and, indirectly, the introduction of genetically engineered (GE) seeds. Most recently, Zambia has experienced AGRA’s undue influence in shaping a new 10-year agriculture investment policy, highlighting the need for scrutiny and transparency in AGRA’s interactions with national governments.”
AFSA’s analysis shows that “at the continental level, AGRA’s involvement in major African Union initiatives is shaping the future of agriculture across Africa, often prioritising corporate interests over the needs of smallholder farmers in continental forums. At the national level in Zambia, AGRA has strategically positioned itself within key institutions, steering policies toward industrial agriculture while hijacking an ongoing multi-stakeholder policy process intended to address some of the failures of previous Green Revolution-based programs. In Vihiga County, Kenya, AGRA’s late entry into a local policy-making process has raised concerns about its impact on agro-ecological initiatives.
AFSA says, “By engaging in and supporting key initiatives such as climate summits, the African Food Systems Summit, the African Union’s Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, and the Post-Malabo Process, AGRA has exerted considerable influence on the direction of African agriculture. One of AGRA’s recent involvements was in organising and funding the African Union’s Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit held in Nairobi 7-9 May 2024, influencing the direction of African fertiliser policy for the next ten years. The stated goal – an outcome of the Nairobi summit – was to treble fertiliser use within ten years.”
Additionally, AFSA says, AGRA has been actively involved in the Post-Malabo process, a key policy initiative led by the African Union (AU), aiming to shape the next decade of agricultural policy in Africa. This involvement includes funding critical meetings, such as the July 25 – July 30 gathering in Lusaka, where AGRA’s influence on the discussions was evident, according to AFSA coordinator Million Belay, who attended the event.
“Throughout the meeting in Lusaka, the sway of these Western entities in driving the process was palpable, overshadowing the voices of African farmers, civil society, and grassroots organisations,” Belay wrote in an article for African Arguments.
“What was marketed as an ‘inclusive multi-stakeholder consultative process’ bringing together a diversity of African voices was instead a contentious process driven by external influences and corporate agendas.”
The exclusion of agro-ecology, food sovereignty, and farmer-managed seed systems from the discussions reflects a broader trend of sidelining indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices in favour of industrial agriculture, AFSA says.
This note says that the major challenge is the alignment of the Post-Malabo program with the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) “Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience” initiative, which has been criticised for promoting large-scale mono-cropping and corporate control over African agriculture.
Despite resistance from African farmers and communities, the AFSA note says, the inclusion of biotechnology in the policy framework further illustrates the corporate influence driving the Post-Malabo process. The draft declaration includes much attention to “emerging technologies,” including genetic modification, which most African governments currently do not permit. This has raised concerns about the long-term impact on Africa’s agricultural future, with fears that it could increase dependence on multinational corporations for seeds and other farming inputs.
At the regional level, AFSA says, AGRA has influenced seed legislation and promoted the incorporation of COMESA seed trade harmonisation regulations into national laws. AGRA’s country office in Zambia is situated at the COMESA Headquarters in Lusaka, further entrenching itself into strategic regional policy-making spaces.
AFSA says, “AGRA’s involvement in agriculture across Africa, including Zambia, has led to deteriorating conditions in its target countries. In its 13 focus countries, AGRA’s promotion of seeds and fertilisers has failed to deliver the promised productivity revolution, resulting in increased deprivation. The collapse of Zambia’s food system, highlighted in a recent report by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), directly results from this harmful interference.”
“The Green Revolution is a mirage; it’s colonisation in disguise promoting capitalism from the global North to continue controlling our food systems, environment, well-being, and livelihoods,” Sarah Haloba from the Zambian Governance Foundation, a member of ZAAB, told investigators. She added: “As Zambians, we have failed to make decisions with regard to agriculture because we are held by strings of those who control our food systems.”
Vladimir Chilinya of the farmer organization FIAN Zambia was particularly concerned about the new program’s promotion of large-scale industrial agriculture projects, farm blocks advocated by the African Development Bank as well: “The proposed model of farming blocks under CATSP will result in forced evictions, displacements and land grabbing. This will affect smallholder farmers as they will not be able to produce food for themselves. The farming blocks will also result in commercialisation of water resources at the expense of local communities who require the same water resources for their domestic use, livestock and agriculture.”
“There is need to re-think this whole Idea of green revolution,” said Eugene Kabilika, a member of ZAAB. “The real ‘green’ revolution is the promotion of agro-ecology that is poised to trigger regeneration of all life forms and matter that support it on our planet and renewed energies of sustainable production of healthy food for people, animals and all living creatures. This will save our common home from disaster and death.”
Kenya, which hosts AGRA’s headquarters, is dominated by the Green Revolution narrative. According to AFSA, “Like much of Africa, the country’s agricultural and food systems face significant challenges, including the loss of agro-biodiversity, declining soil fertility, low agricultural productivity, poor agricultural diversification, inadequate dietary diversity, misuse of agrochemicals, and the emergence of crop and animal pests, diseases, and invasive species. Additionally, land degradation is a pressing concern. These issues are particularly severe in Kenya’s densely populated Western region, especially in Vihiga County, where years of maize monocultures and heavy chemical fertiliser use have degraded the soils and weakened the local food system.
In response, the AFSA note informs us, the community, through local administration newly empowered by the decentralisation of Kenya’s agricultural policy-making, sought to establish an institutional framework to effectively manage and promote agro-ecological practices. After nearly two years of county-level work to develop this program, stakeholders are now concerned that AGRA may derail this process with its sudden appearance as a sponsor of the programme.
AFSA says, “AGRA’s undemocratic entry into the Vihiga agro-ecology policy-making process has alarmed local farmers and agro-ecology supporters, who fear dilution or derailment of their efforts. Despite joining the process late, AGRA managed to sway key county officials by funding and supporting capacity-building initiatives.”
Genuine supporters of agro-ecology are concerned, AFSA says, that AGRA often uses terms such as “climate-smart agriculture” to obscure its support for chemical fertilisers and GMOs. This allows AGRA to present an image of supporting sustainable practices while continuing to promote high-input agricultural methods that do not align with the principles of true agro-ecology. Earlier plans had not included such terms.
One observer said: “We can’t trust AGRA, the agent of industrial agriculture, to drive the agro-ecology agenda.”
Agro-ecology civil society organisations advocate for protecting future agro-ecology policy-making processes from being co-opted by Green Revolution interests. Wafula of BIOGI emphasised the need for secure funding to shield these processes from being hijacked: “He who pays the piper calls the tune,” said Wafula.
The conclusion of this note is—“Early evidence from AFSA’s ongoing investigation suggests that the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has shifted its focus from field-level interventions to a more insidious approach that prioritises influencing agricultural policy across the continent. While AGRA’s efforts may claim to be supporting agricultural development, the evidence gathered in this investigation reveals a pattern of undue influence that often compromises the sovereignty of African nations and undermines sustainable agricultural practices. The case studies from Kenya and Zambia highlight the extent of AGRA’s involvement in shaping policies that favour industrial agriculture, often at the expense of smallholder farmers, agro-ecology, and food sovereignty. The organisation’s strategic positioning within government institutions and its financial backing of policy processes have raised transparency concerns, particularly regarding the lack of inclusivity and the sidelining of alternative, more sustainable approaches to agriculture.”
“As Africa continues to develop its agricultural policies, it is crucial to ensure that these processes are democratic, transparent, and inclusive. The future of Africa’s food systems depends on the ability of its governments and people to resist external pressures and prioritise policies that are in the best interests of their farmers, ecosystems, and communities. The findings of this investigation call for greater scrutiny of AGRA’s role in policy-making and a re-evaluation of the influence wielded by external entities in shaping Africa’s agricultural future.
“AGRA’s fingerprints are all over Africa’s agricultural policies,” says AFSA’s Million Belay. “They represent an attack on African food sovereignty.”
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include ‘Man over Machine’ and ‘India quest for sustainable farming and Healthy food’.