What does AGRA Watch support?
AGRA Watch supports African initiatives and programs that foster farmers’ self-determination and food sovereignty. AGRA Watch also supports public engagement in fighting genetic engineering and exploitative agricultural policies, and demands transparency and accountability on the part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and AGRA.
Our campaign objectives are to:
1. Create a thriving global network of farmers, activists and scholars that a) shares knowledge about the impacts of AGRA and the BMGF in Africa, and tracks their impacts and b) shares information about sustainable practices that are alternatives to industrial models in Africa.
2. Expose and challenge the dominant development ideology that the BMGF practices and promotes.
3. Provide support and facilitate mutual exchange of information and experiences concerning sustainable and healthy agriculture policies and practices.
4. Build membership in AGRA Watch and mobilize support for the campaign around the region, throughout the US, and across the globe.
How does AGRA Watch pursue its objectives?
AGRA Watch aspires to form strong relationships with organizations and individuals already promoting alternatives in African communities. We aim to develop a campaign strategy that builds off of and supports the experiences of these groups. Throughout this process, we plan to educate ourselves and the public through outreach, teach-ins, and forums, which we hope will facilitate a public understanding of the role of the BMGF, the problems with AGRA, and the potential of movements for global food security and sovereignty.
Learn more about AGRA Watch by downloading our brochure: AGRA Watch Brochure [pdf]
AGRA Watch in the news!
Research conducted by AGRA watch members Travis English and Paige Miller is cited in The Nation article, Ending Africa’s Hunger, by Raj Patel, Eric Holt-Gimenez and Annie Shattuck. This article was part of the September 21 edition of the Nation, “Food for All: How to Grow Democracy”.
Agra Watch co-chair Bill Aal gets rave reception at Northern Arizona University. Published April 16, 2009
Local group challenges Gates Foundation on agriculture, by Kristi Heim. Published March 23, 2009.
Gate Foundation takes on a partner in new venture, by Sandi Doughton. Published March 31, 2009
Additional Resources from AGRA Watch:
From AGRA Watch’s workshop “Exploiting the Politics of ‘Need’: AGRA & the Gates Foundation,” at the People’s Summit, Seattle – Nov. 28th, 2009:
Video pt2: Participatory Theater
“Bigwig” Excerpts – quotes from powerful philanthropists, corporations, politicians, and intergovernmental bodies on African agriculture
Advocate/Activist Excerpts – quotes from African civil society organizations, farmers, scholars from the US and Africa, advocates, activists, and allies on African demands, realities, and rights.
Learn more about AGRA
from CAGJ Authors:
Academic Research: “Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Fund Distribution: Gates Foundation Links to Monsanto & GE Crops Development in Kenya” [DRAFT]
AGRA Watch Position Paper: ” Standing Up for Food Sovereignty: AGRA Watch Position Paper on Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act, Genetic Engineering, and the Gates Foundation” May 18th, 2010 [PDF]
Fact Sheet about AGRA (2008) [PDF]
Download CAGJ’s Map of AGRA Grantee Countries [PDF]
CAGJ Responds to Paul Collier on Hunger
CAGJ Responds to Scientific American on Hunger
CAGJ Research cited in The Nation
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Voices From Africa – African Farmers And Environmentalists Speak Out Against A New Green Revolution In Africa. Edited by Anuradha Mittal with Melissa Moore. Published March 2009. 40 pages [PDF]
A New Green Revolution for Africa? – “This paper aims to describe what a Green Revolution really signifies, why such projects haven’t worked before and why AGRA won’t work either, in order to help people trying to take positions at the local, national and regional levels.” Written by GRAIN, published November 2007. 7 pages [PDF]
Unmasking the New Green Revolution in Africa: Motives, Players, and Dynamics – by Elenita c. Daño. 67 pages [PDF]
How Healthy for Africans is the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)? – by Prof. Carol Thompson, Northern Arizona University. 3 pages [PDF]
Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa – Food First Policy Brief No. 12, by Eric Holt-Gimenez, Ph.D., Miguel A. Altieri, Ph.D., and Peter Rosset, Ph.D., published October 2006. 11 pages [PDF]
DECLARATION OF NYÉLÉNI: Now Is The Time For Food Sovereignty! [DOC]
February 23-27, 2007
Nyéléni Village, Selingue, Mali
Hungry or not, don’t force GM down our throats, by Anuradha Mittal, The East African. Published March 21, 2009.
Ten Reasons Why Biotechnology Will Not Ensure Food Security, Protect The Environment, And Reduce Poverty In The Developing World, by Miguel A. Altieri and Peter Rosset, AgBioForum.
The heat is on Bill Gates – He now works to solve humanity’s greatest problems with his foundation — yet has no program to curb global warming. That does not compute. By Joseph Romm, Salon.com. Published March 9, 2009.
Organic farming beats genetically engineered corn as response to rising global temperatures – Meredith Niles, Grist Magazine. Published Jan. 16th, 2009.
Let Them Eat Cash: Can Bill Gates Turn Hunger into Profit? -by Frederick Kaufman, Harper’s Magazine June 2009. [pdf]
