In Pursuit of an African Green Revolution

This book explores recent experiences in the effort to bring about a Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The chapters focus on rice and maize, which are promising and strategic smallholder crops. Significantly, we find that an African Rice Revolution has already begun in many irrigated areas, using Asian-type modern varieties, chemical fertilizer, and improved management practices. Further, we find that the same technological package significantly increases the productivity and profitability of rice farming in rainfed areas as well. We also find evidence that that management training, when done well, can boost productivity on smallholder farms. This suggests that African governments can accelerate the pace of Africa’s Rice Revolution by strengthening extension capacity.

The story for maize is wholly different, where most farmers use local varieties, apply little chemical fertilizer, and obtain very low yields. However, in the highly populated highlands of Kenya, a number of farmers have adopted high-yielding hybrid maize varieties and chemical fertilizer, as was the case in  the Asian Green Revolution, apply manure produced by stall-fed cows, as was the case during the British Agricultural Revolution, and keep improved cows or cross-breeds from European cows and local stock, as was the case of the Indian White Revolution. We conclude that while rice in Africa has benefited from an Asian Green Revolution strategy that emphasizes modern seeds, inputs, and focused knowledge transfers, the success of Africa’s Maize Revolution will require a different system approach based on hybrid maize, chemical and organic fertilizers, and stall-fed cross-bred cows.

1  Introduction: Why an African Green Revolution is Needed and Why It Must Include Small Farms (Larson and Otsuka).- 2  On the Determinants of Low Productivity of Rice Farming in Mozambique: Pathways to Intensification (Kajisa).- 3  On the Possibility of Rice Green Revolution in Irrigated and Rainfed Areas in Tanzania: An Assessment of Management Training and Credit Programs (Nakano, Kajisa, and Otsuka).- 4  On the Possibility of Rice Green Revolution in Rainfed Areas in Uganda: Impact Evaluation of a Management Training Program and Guidebook Distribution (Kijima).- 5  On the Possibility of Rice Green Revolution in Rainfed Areas in Northern Ghana: An Assessment of a Management Training Program (deGraft-Johnson, Suzuki, Sakurai, and Otsuka).- 6  On the Determinants of High Productivity in Rice Farming in Irrigated Areas in Senegal: Efficiency of Large-Scale vs. Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes (Sakurai).- 7  On the Possibility of Maize Green Revolution in Highlands of Kenya: An Assessment of Emerging Intensive Farming Systems (Muraoka, Matsumoto, Jin, and Otsuka).- 8  On the Determinants of Low Productivity in Maize Farming in Uganda: The Role of Markets, Fertilizer Use and Gender (Larson, Savastano, Murray, and Palacios-López).- 9  Conclusions: Strategies towards a Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa (Otsuka and Larson).