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Issue 28: November-December 2003

Green Revolution 'has
not bypassed Africa'

Pigeon pea is an example of a new crop that is suitable to the African environment because it is drought resistant and nitrogen–fixing.

Africa has been left behind but not bypassed by the Green Revolution, according to Robert Evenson, director of the Economic Growth Centre at Yale University.

Prof. Evenson was delivering the first of two presentations on Making Technology Work for the Poor during the 2003 annual lecture series presented by UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) and UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Evenson said the five-stages Green Revolution process was marked by development of:

• Landraces by farmers themselves;

• Early modern varieties in the 1960s mainly by national agricultural research systems (NARS);

• The first generation of modern varieties of high yeilding plants (MV1s) by international agricultural research centres (IARCs);

• Second generation modern varieties (MV2s) by both NARS and IARCs, with biotic resistance qualities; and

• Third generation modern varieties (MV3s) characterized by abiotic resistance.

Comparing Africa's Green Revolution experience with those of Asia and Latin America, Evenson concluding that Africa was left behind because most IARCs working on traditional cereals (wheat and rice) were located outside the continent and could not deliver modern varieties suitable for the region.

Even though releases of modern varieties had only been taking place in Africa over the last 20 years it would be wrong to conclude that "the Green Revolution has bypassed Africa." he said.

In his second lecture, Evenson highlighted "The Price of Admission to the Growth Club for African Countries" and "Development Strategies for Africa". He said that the Green Revolution brought the benefits of high productivity, lower unit cost of production and lower  food prices. Regions where Green Revolution technologies have not been adopted, including most sub-Saharan African countries, were losing out as a result of their inability to take advantage of the large food price reductions.

Turning to Africa's price of admission to the "growth club" and in particular the development strategies needed to speed up green revolution in African countries, Evenson emphasised the need for first class scientific capacity to deal with the region's difficult conditions. Some African countries are too small to generate the necessary scientific manpower and there is need for cooperation among several African countries, he said. 

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