As concern builds around the impact of the global financial crisis on Africa, several prominent African voices have called for an African Green Revolution to help "dampen the impact" in Africa and for greater investments in  griculture to spur economic growth.

Last week, in a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting held by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the Government of Namibia, African ministers expressed support for, "the work of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in spearheading efforts to achieve a sustainable green revolution, working with African governments, farmers, donors, private sector and civil society." They noted that, "the Green Revolution should be complemented by investment in rural areas, a preserve of the public sector."

This week, Njongonkulu Ndungane, the editor of the highly-respected magazine African Monitor (www.africanmonitor.org), called for "innovative financing" to help achieve a smallholder-based African Green Revolution and transform agriculture into highly productive, profitable and sustainable system to enable Africa to be food self-sufficient and secure."

African Monitor holds African governments and donors accountable to their commitments. As part of African governments' comprehensive support to smallholder farmers, Ndungane called on governments to "promote such home-grown African initiatives as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)."

Read The Star op-ed "Africa's only way out of poverty" (pdf - 528 KB)

Read the Windhoek High-Level Ministerial Declaration on African Agriculture in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges, Making a Sustainable Green Revolution (pdf - 112 KB)