Transforming today's rural poverty
Millions of African farmers and their families are trapped in poverty: they lack good seeds, their soil is depleted, and they farm without reliable water supplies or easy access to markets.
They have no financing, no crop insurance, and no government support. Everything that farmers in the developed world depend upon, Africa's smallholder farmers have done without.
Yet, despite these odds, they produce the majority of Africa's food.
AGRA's strategic approach
AGRA has a strategy to transform today's rural poverty into tomorrow's prosperity by sustainably and significantly increasing the productivity of smallholder farmers. It starts from the understanding that African agriculture can be a powerful and transformative engine for sustainable economic growth.
It is grounded in Africa's very diverse and largely rain-fed agriculture; wise use of science and technology; and in learning from previous Green Revolutions.
An African Green Revolution can apply the power of knowledge and technology with an environmental touch: disseminating many crop varieties that will thrive in diverse conditions; improving soil health through integrated soil fertility management; and developing technologies that maximize the use of rainwater and deliver small-scale irrigation.
Our focus
AGRA's strategy focuses on smallholder farmers while working for change that strengthens the entire agricultural system and focuses on high-potential breadbasket areas and countries.
It strengthens critical links in a chain of activity that reaches from farmers' fields to agricultural research organizations, from Africa's new seed companies and food processors to regional markets.
The knowledge and the technology to end widespread poverty and hunger in Africa already exists.
AGRA's strategy is to harness this knowledge and ensure it benefits smallholder farmers, through developing breadbasket areas, demonstrating what is possible, and establishing the conditions to spur similar transformations in countries across Africa. AGRA provides a platform for partnerships essential to catalyzing this change.
