Agrarian reforms and the African green revolution

Abstract

Agricultural intensification is central to the Green Revolution (GR) programme. This initiative, which dates back to early 1940s, revolves around the development of high yielding and disease resistant seed varieties that aims at bringing about an efficient food production and security. The paper thus presents a brief genesis and thrust of the GR. Focusing on Nigeria as a typical African case, the discourse addresses the political economy of the Nigerian agriculture, outlines the features of the Nigerian GR as a pro-poor development strategy. It also analyses the political and bureaucratic lapses associated with the introduction and implementation of the reform. Although wary of some of the issues surrounding the production of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and high external inputs (HEIs) in the push for a new African GR, the paper reports the proceedings of the Salzburg conference as a likely platform for the formulation of new pro-poor policies in the context of the African GR. If sincerely and properly implemented, the article argues that an African-oriented GR framework is conceived as a possible policy window to address the challenges of the continent‟s poor majority.