Land and Food Rights in Africa

Land and food Rights in Africa

Africa is where the battle for the future of food is the most urgent. It is where hunger is pervasive, soils are depleted, agricultural productivity is low, and climate change is projected to wreak havoc with poor farmers. It is also where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other international donors are aggressively trying to export the high-input Green Revolution model of agriculture. Land and food rights are at stake for Africa’s small-scale farmers, who seek a more sustainable path, relying on agroecology to build a more climate-resilient future.

Most African leaders not making promised investments in agriculture, Timothy A. Wise, Global Post, February 6, 2014
Why it's dangerous to trust corporations to lead the fight against world hunger, Timothy A. Wise, Global Post, January 31, 2014
“Land grabs” and Responsible Agricultural Investment in Africa, Timothy A. Wise, Triple Crisis Blog, August 4, 2014
UN Backs Seed Sovereignty in Landmark Peasants’ Rights Declaration, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, December 28, 2018
Does Kenya Need GM Cassava? Ask the World Food Prize-winner Who Saved Africa’s Cassava, Food Tank, October 14, 2020.

Agroecology vs. Green Revolution

“Unsustainable extensification”: donors deepen hunger with the Green Revolution in Africa, Humanitarian Alternatives, March 2024.
Hijacking Food Policies to Feed Agribusiness, Timothy A. Wise and Mutinta Nketani, The Elephant (Kenya), October 23, 2023.
Feeding big agribusiness, starving Africans, by Mutinta Ntekani and Timothy A. Wise, Al Jazeera, Sept. 4, 2023.
Digging Africa Deeper into Hunger, IPS News, August 29, 2023.
AGRA Gets Make-Up, Not Make-Over, Timothy A. Wise and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, IPS News, Nov. 29, 2022.
Africa Confronts the Food, Fertilizer, and Climate Crisis: Interview with Wise, Ann Garrison, LA Progressive, November 11, 2022.
AGRA retreats from its own “Green Revolution,” Food Tank, October 26, 2022.

Can AGRA correct course? New plan offers big budget, few changes to address African food crisis, Daily Nation (Kenya), September 8, 2022.
Green Revolution Forum confronts food, fertilizer crises, Daily Nation (Kenya), August 24, 2022.
African Community Leaders Tell Congress: Stop Funding African Green Revolution, Food Tank, May 4, 2022.
Hostile takeover: Why seed sovereignty in Africa is under threat, DownToEarth India, May 3, 2022.
Donors must rethink Africa’s flagging Green Revolution, new evaluation shows (commentary), Timothy A. Wise, Mongabay, March 22, 2022.
AGRA: Still Failing Africa’s Farmers, IATP analysis, March 4, 2022. (Read press release.)
Africa’s Land Use Problem: Is Green Revolution Agriculture a Solution or a Cause? The Elephant (Kenya), December 3, 2021.
Time to change course, not double down on failing Green Revolution, Expressions Africa, November 15, 2021.
Magical Thinking About Fertilizer and Climate Change, IPS News, November 9, 2021.
Africa’s green revolution initiative has faltered: why other ways must be found, The Conversation - Africa, September 14, 2021.
Fiddling in Nairobi While Africa Goes Hungry, IPS News, August 31, 2021.
New AGRA Reports Offer Little Evidence to Justify Continued Donor Support, IATP Policy Brief, July 21, 2021.
Throwing Good Money After Bad: Failing Green Revolution program readying billion-dollar fund drive, IATP Blog, July 1, 2021.
Old Fertilizer in New Bottles: Selling the Past as Innovation in Africa’s Green Revolution, GDAE Working Paper No. 21-01, February 2021.
- Selling the Past as Innovation, Food Tank, February 10, 2021.
- Another False Start in Africa with Green Revolution Myths, by Timothy A. Wise with Jomo Kwame Sundaram, IPS News, April 20, 2021.
Failing Africa’s Farmers: An Impact Assessment of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, GDAE Working Paper No. 20-01, July 2020.
- False Promises: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a report from Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung based on Wise’s research, July 2020.
- Failing Africa’s farmers: New report shows Africa’s Green Revolution is “failing on its own terms” - Summary of findings, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, July 2020.
- Africa’s Choice: Africa’s Green Revolution has failed, time to change course, IATP Policy Brief, July 2020. (Also available in French.)
- African Farmers: Key to Solving Malnutrition, Food Tank, July 18, 2020.
- “Replacing Hunger with Malnutrition:” Former UN official calls out failing African Green Revolution, IATP Blog, August 19, 2020.
- “Failing Africa’s Farmers, Starving the Continent,” IPS News, Sept. 8, 2020.
- Response to AGRA Statement on False Promises Report, IATP Blog, August 10, 2020.
- “A few questions for AGRA on farming revamp,” Kenya Business Daily, Sept. 9, 2020.
- “Africa at the Crossroads: Time to Abandon Failing Green Revolution,” Million Belay and Timothy A. Wise, IPSNews, Sept. 23, 2020.
- “Pressure builds on Gates Foundation, AGRA for accountability,” IATP blog, October 13, 2020.
- “Gates Foundation’s Green Revolution Fails Africa’s Farmers,” chapter in Navdanya International, “Gates to a Global Empire,” October 2020.
- “Agricultural Revolution: “Gates Foundation is leading Africa to failure,” Tchak! Magazine (Belgium-French), October 21, 2020. English translation at IATP.
“AGRA Update: Withheld internal documents reveal no progress for Africa’s farmers,” IATP blog, February 25, 2021.
- “Africa’s Green Revolution: Few gains, no transparency,” Kenya Star, March 8, 2021.
- “Low farm yields, incomes dampen Africa’s green revolution dream,” Business Daily, March 10, 2021.
The Battle for the Future of Food in Africa, Common Dreams, By Million Belay and Timothy A. Wise, November 1, 2019

Rome Summit Takes Bold Step Toward Agroecology, Common Dreams, October 24, 2019
AGRA at Ten Years: Searching For Evidence of a Green Revolution in Africa, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, November 2017 (Also available in French)
Agroecology as Innovation, Food Tank, July 9, 2019

Mozambique

We're All in the Same Lifeboat Now: Climate change comes for farmers, from Mozambique to Iowa, Medium, September 20, 2019
Getting Smart about Climate and Agriculture - Opening to Eating Tomorrow
Growing Resistance: The Rise and Fall of Another Mozambique Land Grab, Timothy A. Wise, GDAE Policy Brief, May 2018

Land Grab Update: Mozambique, Africa Still in the Crosshairs, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, October 31, 2016
Looking for Food in All the Wrong Places, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, June 24, 2016
History Repeats as Farce: Giving Away Land Without Consultation in Mozambique, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, May 19, 2015
The Great Land Giveaway in Mozambique, Timothy A. Wise, Dollars & Sense, March/April 2015 [Available in Portuguese]
What Happened to the Biggest Land Grab in Africa? Searching for ProSavana in Mozambique, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, December 20, 2014
Seeds of Climate Resilience in Mozambique, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, April 17, 2017
What Value are Value Chains for Small-Scale Farmers?, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, February 16, 2017

Malawi

Tuning in to Farmers’ Water Needs: Radio broadcasts aid Malawi irrigation efforts, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, August 31, 2017

Did Monsanto Write Malawi’s Seed Policy? Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, August 23, 2017
Malawi's paradox: Filled with both corn and hunger, Timothy A. Wise, Global Post, February 25, 2014
Seed Sovereignty and Climate Adaptation in Malawi, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, July 19, 2016

Zambia

Hijacking Food Policies to Feed Agribusiness, Timothy A. Wise and Mutinta Nketani, The Elephant (Kenya), October 23, 2023.
Land and the Right to Food in Zambia: U.N. Envoy Urges Shifts Away from Large-Scale Projects, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, May 19, 2017

Securing Land Rights in Zambia, Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank, April 3, 2017
Zambia’s Maize Paradox: Land-poor farmers in a land-rich country - from Eating Tomorrow, Chapter 4
In Diversity There is Strength: Moving beyond the Green Revolution in Zambia, from Eating Tomorrow, Chapter 4.

Tanzania

Picking up the pieces from a failed land grab project in Tanzania, Timothy A. Wise, GlobalPost, June 27, 2014
In Search of Sustainable Biofuels in Tanzania - Excerpt from Eating Tomorrow Chapter 6 (Biofuels)

Land and food Rights in Africa

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