Briefing from ROAPE Volume 34 Number 113
Africa: Green Revolution or Rainbow Evolution?

Kofi Annan has just agreed to head the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. The goals of these foundations are ambitious. ‘Our initial estimate is that over ten years, the program for Africa's seed systems (PASS) should produce 400 improved crop varieties resulting in a 50 percent increase in the land area planted with improved varieties across 20 African countries,’ reads the initiative's press release. ‘We have also initially estimated that this level of performance will contribute to eliminating hunger for 30-40 million people and sustainably move 15-20 million people out of poverty.’