AFSA calls for redirecting agricultural finance towards Agroecology in Africa

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is calling for a fundamental reorientation of agricultural finance across Africa, urging greater investment in agroecological farming systems, soil health, crop diversification, and farmer-managed seed systems.

The call is among the key conclusions of AFSA’s new report, which examines two decades of the so-called Green Revolution approach, characterised by heavy reliance on improved seed varieties, synthetic fertilisers, input subsidies, and agricultural policy reforms.

The report, titled The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa: Twenty Years of Evidence and What Works Instead, draws on 18 years of evidence from African countries, including agricultural productivity data, donor assessments, institutional records, and academic research.

According to AFSA, across the 13 countries targeted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), synthetic fertiliser use more than doubled over the past two decades, while the productivity of staple crops increased by an average of only 1.2% annually. The report notes that this rate of growth is slightly lower than that recorded during the preceding 12-year period.

Over the same period, the amount of land under cultivation increased by 46%, suggesting that a substantial proportion of the increase in agricultural output resulted from the expansion of cultivated land rather than significant productivity gains on existing farmland.

The report further indicates that the number of people experiencing chronic undernourishment across the 13 countries increased by 58%, rising from 94.6 million to 149.6 million.

In Malawi, a country highlighted in the report for having experienced substantial increases in crop production, the number of people affected by chronic undernourishment nevertheless increased by 61%. AFSA uses this disparity to argue that increasing the output of a single crop does not, in itself, guarantee adequate nutrition or improved food security for populations.

AFSA argues that these figures warrant a reassessment of whether investments and policy interventions centred predominantly on increasing the use of agricultural inputs should continue to constitute the principal foundation of Africa’s agricultural development.

The report cites Zambia as another example, noting that input-subsidy programmes at certain points accounted for between 72% and 75% of the agricultural budget. Despite the strong emphasis placed on fertiliser and maize production under these policies, the report states that maize output increased by only 14%, while the area under cultivation had nearly doubled.

AFSA, however, clarifies that the report is not a rejection of improved seeds, fertilisers, technology, or scientific knowledge. Rather, it questions the type of agricultural system that current investments are constructing, who has the capacity to shape and control it, and who ultimately benefits from those investments.

A call for redirecting existing agricultural finance

The report argues that the solution does not necessarily lie in simply increasing the volume of money allocated to agriculture. Instead, it calls for a strategic reallocation of existing agricultural finance towards systems that strengthen farmers’ agency, enhance resilience to climate change, restore soil health, and support more diversified and sustainable production.

AFSA recommends that at least 10% of existing agricultural finance should be redirected, by 2028, towards farmer-managed seed systems, soil health, and diversified production.

The proposed allocation would subsequently increase to 25% by 2030 and reach 33% by 2035.

AFSA also cautions against the increasing rebranding of input-intensive agricultural programmes as “climate adaptation” initiatives in order to attract climate finance, while their underlying production models continue to depend heavily on externally sourced agricultural inputs.

Agroecology gaining ground in African policy

The report argues that agroecology is no longer merely an experimental or academic concept.

Six African countries—Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Tunisia—have already established national strategies or legislation promoting agroecology, while the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is considering a proposed legislative framework on agroecology.

According to the report, these developments demonstrate that agroecology is already emerging as a concrete policy and development pathway embraced by communities and governments, rather than simply a prospective model awaiting future experimentation.

The report further notes that farmers in several African countries are already implementing practices that include soil restoration, farmer-led seed conservation, crop diversification, and reduced dependence on costly external agricultural inputs.

Senegal is cited as an example of how diversified agricultural systems can contribute to climate resilience and food security. According to the report, millet production increased by 85%, while sorghum production rose by 75%.

“Farmers must be the authors of transformation”

In the foreword to the report, Dr. Million Belay, AFSA’s General Coordinator, argues that African farmers should no longer be treated merely as beneficiaries of transformations designed elsewhere.

He writes: “African farmers must stop being treated as beneficiaries of someone else’s transformation. They must be its authors.”

The report was launched at a press conference moderated by author and academic Raj Patel, alongside Dr. Million Belay, Mutinta Nketani, Famara Diedhiou, and Timothy Wise.

AFSA argues that the current moment presents an opportunity to reconsider where agricultural finance is directed, particularly as African countries prepare 10-year agricultural development plans under the Kampala CAADP Framework. These plans are expected to shape the allocation of billions of dollars in agricultural, development, and climate finance in the coming years.

For AFSA, the central issue is therefore not simply how much money is invested in agriculture, but where that money is directed and whether it enables farmers to build resilience, restore soil health, protect biodiversity, diversify production, and reduce dependence on externally supplied agricultural inputs.

The alliance maintains that farmers should have a meaningful and decisive role in shaping the future trajectory of African agriculture, rather than being treated merely as recipients or end-users of programmes, technologies, and agricultural models designed elsewhere.