Norman Borlaug (1914-2009), the G8, and a new green revolution in Africa
Norman Borlaug, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, died this week at age 95. He has been credited by some with saving over a billion lives with his work in increasing agricultural production. Borlaug’s work, beginning in 1944 in Mexico, led to the introduction of high-yielding, disease-resistant dwarf plant varieties. These new varieties, in conjunction with modern agricultural techniques such as irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, and mechanization, led Mexico to move from a net wheat importer to a net exporter in the 1950s. Borlaug took his lessons learned to Pakistan and India in the 1960s, and to China in the 1980s. Due to these new technologies, overall food availability per capita increased by 11% between 1970 and 1990.
Yet, the Green Revolution wasn’t without its challenges. Environmental consequences included increased pesticide use, groundwater depletion, and other forms of environmental degradation. Social implications have been identified, including inequitable access to more expensive production inputs, and labor and migration issues.
Now the world looks to Africa as the place for the next green revolution. Borlaug himself noted the key challenges to boosting agricultural production in Africa: while the technology exists, constraints including soil fertility, a dearth of extension services, and poor infrastructure hinder the dissemination of technologies. President Obama, in a recent interview, expressed his frustration over “the fact that the Green Revolution that we introduced into India in the ’60s, we haven’t yet introduced into Africa in 2009”. The recent U.S.-led G8 agreement moves agricultural development funding in this direction.
G8 promises $20 million for sustainable agricultural development
Participants at the 2009 G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, in July agreed to give $20 billion over 3 years for the promotion of sustainable agriculture in Africa. The G8 nations promised to finance agriculture projects in poor countries that help fight hunger and food price volatility. Initiated by the Obama administration, this aid package would provide farmers in poor nations with seeds, fertilizers and technology to increase food production.
The Joint Declaration of the G8 states notes the importance of public-private partnerships, such as through AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa). The main strategy follows much of the work that has been outlined by AGRA which is seeking to increase farmer access to seed of higher yielding varieties, to boost fertilizer usage from the current levels of <5k / ha up to 50 kg / ha and, where appropriate, promote use of small-scale farm machinery and “No tillage” options.
This strategy hit a major setback during the food and financial crisis as fertilizers doubled in price, and high inventory costs have meant that farmers have not been able to benefit from improved access to fertilizer that is being promoted by projects that are fostering input supply networks.
This new stimulus package from the G8 and mainly from the US is therefore a way of restarting this initiative with new funds that will enable projects to start new programs to boost yields.
Clearly many problems still remain in the African context. Many countries still prefer to import cheap food from countries that subsidize their production, and over the past 20 years government farm extension programs have virtually evaporated. Hence delivering new technology packages to farming communities remains a critical “missing bridge” that needs to be addressed.
The NGO community has increasing leverage in this area and perhaps this new assistance package is an opportunity for NGOs to work more closely with our partners in agricultural research to develop systems that deliver, test and scale out the more successful technologies.
Criticisms of a new green revolution: is biotechnology the right answer?
The push for fertilizers and high-tech solutions to boost agricultural yields continues to spark debates about the appropriateness of fertilizers, GMOs, and other biotechnology solutions in Africa and other developing countries. Critics include Food First and other groups who petitioned the G8 to promote organic and agroecological farming instead of promoting biotechnology.
Addressing the skeptics in a 2002 interview, Borlaug stated: “Biotechnology will help these countries accomplish things that they could never do with conventional plant breeding. The technology is more precise and farming becomes less time consuming.” However, he continued, “While biotechnology holds much promise in food production, we cannot ignore conventional plant breeding methods since these methods continue to be important. In the last century, conventional breeding produced higher yields and will continue to do so in this century.”
Read more on biotechnology and global food legislation and the green revolution in Africa.
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