Africa turns to India for ‘green revolution’

With a vast untapped potential in agriculture, African countries are keen to gain from India’s experiences, including the ‘green revolution’, to bring about a transformation and enable their 420 million poor people to come out of poverty.

Africa is estimated to have 65 per cent of the world’s uncultivated land but only about 10 per cent of global food output.

African Development Bank (AfDB) officials said after their annual meeting here last week that its focus on ‘transforming agriculture to create wealth’ has sparked interest among a vast section, including youth, researchers and the private sector to treat agriculture as a business.

The meeting boosted Africa’s partnership with India in agriculture as also in several other areas, including infrastructure, electricity generation, skill development and healthcare.

Officials said that the AfDB will invest $24 billion in African agriculture in the next 10 years and the sector is estimated to generate $1 trillion in business by 2030.

Chiji Ojukwu, director of the agriculture and agro-industry department at the AfDB, said that India experienced a green revolution using improved seed varieties and best agronomic practices, and was able to lift large sections of its population out of poverty – and Africa has a lot to learn from India in order to achieve similar success.

“We can leapfrog, taking advantage of the successes of India, to borrow their technologies and to bring Indian experts to assist Africa,” Ojukwu told IANS. Read more…