Resources

Whether for preparing a talk, fact-checking, preparation for an interview, or for a term paper, community activists and researchers often need ready resources to rely on without having to start from scratch. Below find resources from allied organizations and the media that shed some light on the interventions by the Gates Foundation and AGRA into African agriculture and the struggle of African farmers and community organizations to promote their own solutions.

Find resources by AGRA Watch on the AGRA Watch Media page.

AGRA

• The flaw in Bill Gates’ approach to ending global poverty. [Non-paywall version] By guest columnist William Easterly (2014).
• Let’s set the Record Straight! Teresa Anderson unpacks AGRA’s plan for GMO’s in Africa. By Teresa Anderson, Gaia Foundation (2013).
• Giving With One Hand and Taking With Two: A critique of AGRA’s “African Agricultural Status Report 2013”. By The African Centre for Biosafety (2013).
• Gates defends focus on high-tech agriculture. By Associated Press (2012).
• Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA): Laying the groundwork for the commercialization of African Agriculture. By The African Centre for Biosafety (2012).
• Voices From Africa: African Farmers And Environmentalists Speak Out Against A New Green Revolution In Africa. Edited by Anuradha Mittal and Melissa Moore, Oakland Institute (2009). [PDF]
• Let Them Eat Cash: Can Bill Gates Turn Hunger into Profit? By Frederick Kaufman, Harper’s Magazine (2009).
• The heat is on Bill Gates: He now works to solve humanity’s greatest problems with his foundation—yet has no program to curb global warming. That does not compute. By Joseph Romm, Salon (2009).
• A New Green Revolution for Africa? By GRAIN (2007). [PDF]
• Unmasking the New Green Revolution in Africa: Motives, Players and Dynamics. By Elenita Daño (2007). [Link to book]
• Another Silver Bullet for Africa?  Bill Gates to Resurrect the Rockefeller Foundation’s Decaying Green Revolution. By GRAIN (2006). [PDF]
• Ten Reasons Why the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ Alliance for Another Green Revolution Will Not Solve the Problems of Poverty and Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa. By Eric Holt-Gimenez, Miguel Altieri, and Peter Rosset (2006).

Biotechnology

• 10 reasons we don’t need GM foods [Contains highlights of larger report]. Read the 2nd edition published May of 2014: GMO Myths and Truths. By Earth Open Source (2014).
• Statement: No scientific consensus on GMO safety. 297 scientists and experts agree GMOs not proven safe. Read the statement. Read the signatories [PDF]. By the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (2013).
• Monsanto GMO Food Claims Probably False. By Jill Richardson (2013).
• Do we Need GMOs? By Doug Gurian-Sherman, Union of Concerned Scientists (2013).
• Gates Foundations and Monsanto Push Failed GM Crop on Africa. By the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) in conjuncture with ACB researcher Haidee Swanby (2013).
• Africa bullied to grow defective BT Maize: the failure of Monsanto’s M810 maize in South Africa. By The African Centre for Biosafety (2013).
• Bill Gates’ Support of GM Crops is Wrong Approach for Africa. By Glenn Ashton (AGRA Watch ally), Seattle Times (2012).
• GMO Myths and Truths. An evidence-based examination of the claims made for the safety efficacy of genetically modified crops. By Michael Antoniou, Claire Robinson, and John Fagan (2014). [PDF]
• Hungry or not, don’t force GM down our throats. By Anuradha Mittal, The East African (2009).
• Ten Reasons Why Biotechnology Will Not Ensure Food Security, Protect The Environment, And Reduce Poverty In The Developing World. By Miguel A. Altieri and Peter Rosset, AgBioForum.
• Organic farming beats genetically engineered corn as response to rising global temperatures. By Meredith Niles (2009).
• Starved for Science: How Biotechnology Is Being Kept Out of Africa. By Robert Paarlberg (2008). [Link to book]
• Agricultural Biotechnology Reconsidered: Western Narratives and African Alternatives. By Noah Zerbe (2005). [Link to book]
• Feeding the famine? American food aid and the GMO debate in Southern Africa. By Noah Zerbe (2004). [PDF]
• Monocultures of the Mind: Perspectives on Biodiversity and Biotechnology. By Vandana Shiva (1993). [Link to book]

Food Sovereignty

• Is Africa about to Lose the Right to her Seed? By Glenn Aston, The South African Society Information Service (2013).
• Comesa Approval of Seed Trade Regulations Spells Disaster for Small Farmers and Food Sovereignty in Africa. By The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA 2013). [PDF]
• Food Sovereignty Prize Honors Sustainable, Ecological, Community-Based Organizations. By the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (2013).
• Bill Moyers and Vandana Shiva Discuss the Global Consequences of GMOs. Watch the full interview here: http://billmoyers.com/segment/vandana-shiva-on-the-problem-with-genetically-modified-seeds/; or read the transcript of the interview here: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10456-moyers-vandana-shiva-on-the-problem-with-genetically-modified-seeds. Bill Moyers, Vandana Shiva, Moyers and Company (2012).
• Women Farmers Feed the World. In West Africa, women’s resistance to the new Green Revolution shows that the question of agricultural sustainability is also a question of equality. By Christa Hillstrom, Yes! Magazine (2011).
• Organic farming beats genetically engineered corn as response to rising global temperatures. By Meredith Niles, Grist Magazine (2009).
• The Food Wars. By Walden Bello (2009). [Link to book]
• Food Rebellions!: Forging Food Sovereignty to Solve the Global Food Crisis. By Eric Holt-Giménez, Raj Patel, and Annie Shattuck (2009). [Link to book]
• What’s Behind the Global Food Crisis? How Trade Policy Undermined Africa’s Food Self-Sufficiency. By Food and Water Watch (2008). [PDF]
• Declaration of Nyéléni: Now Is The Time For Food Sovereignty! By the Nyéléni Village (2007).
• Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System. By Raj Patel (2007). [Link to book]
• The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of Farming. By Tony Weis (2007). [Link to book]
• Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation. By Patrick Bond (2006). [Link to book]

Development & African History

• G8 New Alliance condemned as new wave of colonialism in Africa: Critics say landmark initiative to boost agriculture and relieve poverty favours big business to the detriment of small farmers. By Claire Provost, Liz Ford and Mark Tran, The Guardian (2014).
• Impact of Organic Agriculture on Food Security. By Worldwatch Institute (2013).
• Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops. By Doug Gurian-Sherman, Union of Concerned Scientists (2009).
• A World of Difference: Encountering and Contesting Development. By Eric Sheppard and Philip Wayland Porter (2009). [Link to book]
• Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. By James Ferguson (2006). [Link to book]
• The Rise & Fall of Development Theory. By Colin Leys (1996). [Link to book]
• The Anti-Politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. By James Ferguson (1994). [Link to book]
• How Europe Under-Developed Africa. By Walter Rodney (1972). [Link to 2011 book]
• The Wretched of the Earth. By Frantz Fanon (1968). [Link to book]

Critiques of Philanthropy

• The Charitable- Industrial Complex. Op-Ed by Peter Buffett, The New York Times (2013).
• When Bill Gates pushes high-tech agriculture, who benefits? By Eric Reguly, GMWatch (2012).
• Is Philanthropy the Enemy of Justice? By Robert Newman, The Guardian (2012).
• Philanthrocapitalism: A Self-Love Story By David Reiff, The Nation (2015)

International Organizations’ Reports

• United Nations Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter:

The Transformative Potential of the Right to Food (2014).

Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (August 7, 2013).

• IAASTD: International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development’s Global Report (2009). [PDF]
• Our colleagues at Pesticide Action Network have prepared 3 excellent summary sheets focusing on how the IAASTD report relates to GMOs, corporations, and agroecology:
  • Biotechnology and Sustainable Development
  • Scientists Support Framers Regaining Control of Agriculture
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Development
• Peoples’ Comprehensive Framework for Action to Eradicate Hunger (draft). [Link]

Film List

• Seeds of Sovereignty: Co-produced by The Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network in collaboration with GRAIN and MELCA Ethiopia. 2014. 36 minutes.
• Sweet Crude: A film by Sandy Cioffi. 2009. 93 minutes.
• Black Gold: A film by Nick and Marc Francis. 2006. 78 minutes.
• We Feed the World: A film by Erwin Wagenhofer. 2005. 96 minutes.
• Darwin’s Nightmare: A film by Hubert Sauper. 2004. 107 minutes.
• Faat Kine: A film by Ousmane Sembene. 2001. 121 minutes.