AGRA’s Technology Push in Africa

This commentary by Mariann Bassey of Friends of the Earth Nigeria criticizes the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), describing it as a corporate-driven initiative funded by the Rockefeller and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations. The author argues that AGRA promotes a "technology push" focused on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), hybrid seeds, and chemical inputs to benefit agribusiness giants like Monsanto, rather than supporting agro-ecological approaches and food sovereignty for African smallholder farmers.

• 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 contends that AGRA's objective is to replace local seed systems with corporate-controlled gene revolutions, despite contradictory public statements from AGRA spokespeople regarding the use of GMOs.
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in biotechnology projects in Africa, including a $12 million grant for the BioCassava Plus Project to use genetic engineering on cassava and a $47 million grant for the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) program.
• Efforts to introduce GM cassava in Nigeria are described as unnecessary and failed, as local non-GM varieties already exist that can withstand the cassava leaf mosaic disease.
• The author argues that hunger is used as a political tool to force African nations to accept GMOs, citing a 2004 instance where the Zambian government rejected GM corn in US food aid due to safety concerns.
• UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, De Schutter, criticized AGRA's $400-million approach of subsidizing fertilizer and hybrid seeds, stating such methods produce quick yield boosts but are not sustainable in the long term compared to agroecology.
• The document asserts that a corporate-controlled agricultural system will disproportionately harm women in Sub-Saharan Africa, who are the majority of farmers and primarily responsible for family nutrition.

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} }