CASE: ALLIANCE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA (AGRA)

Case: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

What challenges AGRA must continue to overcome to ensure increased seed and food crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa.

While sub-Saharan Africa continues to face enormous challenges in reducing rural poverty, a vision of economic renaissance, with smallholder farmers playing a key role in it, is beginning to take hold on the continent. There is growing belief that Africa can produce enough not only to feed its own citizens but to export an increasing surplus that can make a real contribution to ensuring world food security. New opportunities for tomorrow's generation provide a clear approach to tackling rural poverty today and supporting this economic renaissance. (Africa, 2011)

The report analyses that what poor rural people do, how their livelihoods are changing and which population groups are most likely to be affected by poverty. It underlines the importance of building people's skills and capabilities to manage risks and to take advantage of opportunities in both agriculture and the non-farm economy. It also recommends governmental actions and policies in order to support the poor in rural areas. (Africa, 2011)

Rapid urbanization across the developing world is resulting in expanding domestic markets for food and agricultural products, which are creating new and promising opportunities for smallholder farmers. These changes are also providing them with incentives, to significantly boost their productivity. But helping smallholders get access to these markets, and increase their negotiating power in them. So is providing farmers with the support they need to make their farming systems more productive, more sustainable in their use of natural resources and more resilient to the effects of climatic and other shocks. To keep the momentum going, we should understand the idea that we have to look towards the rural Africans in different and a new way, and should make it clear that they are innovative and hardworking. They have the ability to bring change in their communities. (Africa, 2011)Using the case material and exhibits provided, assess how successful Agra has been in accomplishing its mission?

We know one fact that reduction of hunger and poverty in Africa cannot happen unless Africa achieves a green revolution. They did more, like they knew that if farmers produced and could not sell their produce they would lose incentives to adopt new technologies. They put in place price support systems with guaranteed minimum prices. Farmers were provided with access to credit. Within thirty years' time spam, the area cultivated to high yield rose from 0% to 60% till 1965. Due to rising cultivation yield, the variety of new wheat crops is also spreading rapidly with less than 2% to 90% in 1995. (Africa, 2011)

With the passage of time, Asia is also gaining the policies right with technologies right. The green revolution helping billions of people; they help in reducing the prices of food not only in rural areas, but also in urban areas. AGRA is helping in making employment, also increasing the economic growth in Asian countries.

The AGRA actively working with national governments, civil societies, development departments also with farmers, in order to put off millions of people from the poverty line. This green revolution is not the same as the one in Asia. The African green revolution is unique to the needs of Africa. (Africa, 2011)

Technological change is vital to feed Africa. Doubling agricultural productivity of staple crops by 2015 will raise the GDP growth by ...