Walk through countless small villages in Sub-Saharan Africa and you will see the same scene: Women and kids bent over, tending to scrawny plants. Every year, Africa's farms yield fewer and fewer crops. Many Africans are living on the edge of starvation.
Philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates say it is time for a revolution. On September 12, the Gates Foundation announced it was teaming up with the Rockefeller Foundation to fight hunger in Africa. The two groups will spend $150 million to boost farming methods on the continent. "Together, we share a vision for creating lasting change that will help millions of people in Africa lift themselves out of extreme poverty," says Melinda Gates.
Seeds of ChangeA Woman's Place
Sub-Saharan Africa contains 16 of the 18 most undernourished countries
in the world. It is the only region on Earth where people have less food
each year.
The continent's farmers are mainly women. They cultivate most of the food crops on farms that are smaller than a football field. Most years, a farmer will grow barely enough food to feed her family. Kids are expected to help in the fields, which leaves them little time for school.
For years, the Rockefeller Foundation has funded smaller programs to improve crop varieties in Africa. Many African scientists grew up on farms. Most women scientists older than 40 "come from the land," Margaret Karembu, a scientist in Kenya, told TIME. "We know what it means to have to harvest all day," she says. "When you have more women being exposed to technology, it helps, because they are more likely to work on ways to help their sisters back in the village."
African scientists have developed more than 100 new crop varieties. New rice plants, called NERICA (New Rice for Africa), are adapted to growing conditions in the area. They have a shorter growing cycle and are resistant to weeds. The effects of planting hardier plants can already be felt. Children are spending less time in the field. School attendance is up in the areas where the new rice is grown.
Between 1960 and 1984, a green revolution more than doubled total food production in developing countries in Asia and Latin America. But experts agree that Africa is more complex, because growing conditions vary across the continent. "You're not going to develop a single crop that revolutionizes African agriculture," says Paula Bramel, a researcher in Tanzania. "This is a much more diverse place."
No one expects success to come easily. Even if governments and farmers do everything right, it will take years to see the fruits of their labor. But the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations envision a new Africa, where farmers aren't doomed to a life of hunger. They have started by planting a small seed of hope.