The Washington Post [2] reports this morning that the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations will partner to jump-start an African Green Revolution [3]:The Africa program will begin with a relatively small Gates contribution of $100 million over five years, plus $50 million from Rockefeller, to fund development of more robust disease- and drought-resistant seeds for primary African foodstuffs, enhanced distribution networks for seed and fertilizer, and university-level training for African crop scientists.
Upon seeing this, my first reaction was to ask what the private sector’s role will be. After some digging, I discovered [4] that the new project intends to develop a network of African agro-dealers:
Another challenge particular to Africa is the lack of a robust market for bringing new products to farmers. PASS hopes to address this by providing training, capital and credit to establish at least 10,000 small agro-dealers [village retailers who sell seeds, fertilizer and farm tools] who can serve as conduits of seeds, fertilizers, chemicals and knowledge to smallholder farmers, and in doing so help increase their productivity and incomes. This will be a $37 million investment.
$37 million for business development!? That’s excellent news. Let’s hope Gates and Rockefeller take the time to talk to some success stories in the arena, specifically KickStart [4] and PRIDE Africa [4].
More commentary on the just-announced program on Owen’s blog [5], Pienso [6], and Resilience [7].