hellow

Two key U.S.-based foundations have declared a grand scheme to rejuvenate Africa’s agriculture. The Invoice and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation will spend $one hundred fifty million towards eco-friendly revolutionizing Africa’s agriculture.

The plan, according to a joint press release from the two foundations, “intends to enhance agricultural development in Africa by addressing the two farming and pertinent economic problems, like soil fertility and irrigation, farmer administration methods, and farmer access to markets and funding.”

There is no doubt that this initiative has occur at an opportune time. Africa’s agriculture is in close proximity to overall collapse and needs urgent reengineering. Africa has been gradual in embracing reducing edge agricultural technologies this sort of as biotechnology that have reworked the economies of many developing countries this kind of as India, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and China.

This initiative stands a excellent likelihood to transform Africa’s agriculture. For this dream to be realized, however, each and every modern day agricultural technology need to be explored. Invoice Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation envisages “African plant scientists establishing higher-yielding and drought resistant crops and African business owners starting up seed businesses to get to tiny-scale farmers…”

Establishing high yielding and drought resistant crops would stay a aspiration as prolonged as Africa carries on to view new agricultural systems prescribed by the west as instruments of domination. This has been, specifically, the situation with agricultural biotechnology. smilefarm.co.th -biotechnology activists have manufactured African farmers to think that agricultural biotechnology only serves the interests of multinational seed firms. This is deceptive.

As Africa gears up to get the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations largesse, it have to, 1st of all, value that dismissing such revolutionary agricultural systems as biotechnology by a hand wave will not serve its agricultural passions.

It really is instructive to mention that the African Union (AU) has a pivotal function to engage in in ensuring that Africa gains optimum positive aspects from novel agricultural systems this kind of as biotechnology.

Late last 12 months, the AU by way of the New Partnership for Africa’s Improvement (NEPAD), commissioned a panel of African researchers and plan makers to study how modern biotechnology could be integrated into Africa’s agricultural and wellness sectors. The panel, co-chaired by Prof. Calestous Juma of Harvard University, has already drafted a report that, amongst other factors, proposes the institution of regional “Facilities of Excellence” for biotechnology analysis. The report will be submitted to African heads of state conference in January 2007. AU need to ratify this report to empower Africa boost its agriculture.