As Kristi Heim reports for the Seattle Times, the idea of creating a new green revolution to help combat existing and future hunger problems, is going to get a major endorsement today from “the world’s richest philanthropist[.]” With a world population of over six billion and counting, everyone from the administration to the G-8 to the United Nations knows something big needs to happen for the world to be able to feed itself, and to that end Bill Gates will endorse the idea of a new green revolution, only bigger than the first.As Heim reports, Gates is set to outline “his own vision in his first major address on agriculture, calling on governments, researchers, environmentalists and others to ‘set aside old divisions and join forces’ to help millions of farmers.” Gates will be speaking at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa where he will also announce a new $120 million “package of agriculture-related grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to nine institutions around the world.”
Over the past three years the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided $1.4 billion for agriculture development in Africa and South Asia. Heim reports that these efforts have received criticisms for not heeding the “mistakes” of the previous green revolution started by the late Dr. Norman Borlaug. The critics argue the foundation relied too much on “technology solutions and higher yields [.]”
Much like political wedge issues, Gates is going to tell the audience that an “ideological wedge” between sides (environmentalists and endorsers of higher yield methods of agriculture) who want the same outcome could hinder “major breakthroughs that are within reach.”
‘"It's a false choice, and it's dangerous for the field,’ Gates said in advance excerpts from the speech. ‘It blocks important advances. It breeds hostility among people who need to work together. And it makes it hard to launch a comprehensive program to help poor farmers. The fact is, we need both productivity and sustainability — and there is no reason we can't have both.”’Dr. Borlaug ushered in the first green revolution by introducing high yield strains of rice and wheat in “Latin America and Asia and relieved widespread famine [.]” Yet the revolution is not without its critics who point to environmental damage caused by the new production methods. For his part, Gates is sensitive to those criticisms, stating the new revolution ‘"must be guided by small-holder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and the environment."’
Still, Gates also receives criticisms from those who think he does not do enough to address underlying issues of poverty and market access that are part of famines. For instance, previous World Food Prize winner and president of the Millennium Institute, Swiss scientist Hans Herren, is quoted in the Heim story as stating ‘"there are a lot of holes in the whole system, and I think the Gates Foundation would have done well taking a broader view . . . They needed to take a systematic look and talk to more stakeholders on the ground before investing a lot of money."’
Regardless, the call for major agricultural action in the third world will receive a major endorsement today that may open more eyes to the idea of a new green revolution. Also at the event, which is focused on “Food, Agriculture & National Security in a Globalized World,” the 2009 World Food Prize laureate will be honored. Gebisa Ejeta is receiving the honor for his work on developing drought-resistant hybrids of sorghum. Ejeta is from Ethiopia.
To read the Heim article click here.
Posted: 10/15/09
