Is the Green Revolution the right approach for Africa?
GM: In Kenya we’ve already had a ‘Green Revolution’ – it’s been here in different intensities. AGRA is failing. We need to rejuvenate soils by removing chemicals completely or reducing them gradually so that small-scale farming is not chemically-based. Farmers are taking loans, no one is addressing climate change, soils are ‘dead’ and people are starving. At the moment AGRA in Kenya is giving money to banks so they give credit for farmers for seeds and chemical supplies. Soils get killed or destroyed by many years of using chemical sprays and fertiliser. With dead soil, you can’t get a crop unless you use a lot of chemicals. LS: Are more small scale farmers increasingly aware that organic farming is a better approach? GM: Some farmers agree and have left that path and have moved towards organic ecological agriculture. Everybody knows that organic farming is capable of feeding Africa, including a UNEP study. The problem is that the government in Kenya is not investing in this. It invest
