AGRA’s Technology Push in Africa

The report critiques the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), funded by the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations, as a vehicle for corporate dominance in African agriculture. The author contends that AGRA promotes a 'technology push' involving GMOs, hybrid seeds, and chemical inputs that benefit agribusiness giants like Monsanto while undermining indigenous knowledge and sustainable agro-ecological practices. The text highlights failed attempts to introduce GM cassava in Nigeria and argues that food insecurity should be addressed through eco-farming and the implementation of the IAASTD review rather than industrial models.

• The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is a $400 million enterprise funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with leadership ties to corporations such as Monsanto and Dupont.
• The author asserts that AGRA's objective is to dismantle local seed systems and replace them with corporate-controlled gene revolutions, despite contradictory public statements regarding the use of GMOs.
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in Monsanto and funded specific biotechnology projects in Africa, such as a $12 million grant for the BioCassava Plus Project to use genetic engineering on cassava.
• Efforts to introduce GM cassava in Nigeria are described as failures, with the author noting that the technology failed to provide resistance against Cassava Mosaic Disease and that non-GM local varieties already withstand the disease.
• The Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) program, funded by Warren Buffet and Bill Gates with $47 million, is criticized for threatening food sovereignty and creating markets for agribusinesses like Monsanto.
• The document advocates for agro-ecological approaches and 'eco-farming' over industrial models, citing the IAASTD review and UN reports which suggest organic agriculture can increase productivity without environmental damage.
• The author argues that AGRA's focus on subsidized fertilizers and hybrid seeds is unsustainable and that women, who are the majority of farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, will be most negatively impacted by a shift to a corporate-controlled monopolistic system.

APA

Bassey, M. (n.d.). AGRA’s Technology Push in Africa. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AGRAs-Technology-Push-in-Africa.pdf

Chicago

Bassey, Mariann. AGRA’s Technology Push in Africa. Friends of the Earth International, n.d. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AGRAs-Technology-Push-in-Africa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bassey |first1=Mariann |title=AGRA’s Technology Push in Africa |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AGRAs-Technology-Push-in-Africa.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{basseyndagras, author = {Bassey, Mariann}, title = {{AGRA’s Technology Push in Africa}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/AGRAs-Technology-Push-in-Africa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }