African Agriculture Organization Gets One Million Dollar Grant

A global telecommunications provider has given a one million dollar grant to a Nairobi-based agriculture organization.

The recipient, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), helps smallholder farmers, most of whom are women, and encourages change at a grass roots level.

“This grant is a very special grant because it is going to be used to create support for farm organizations and organizations that are working at the grass roots level on issues relating to agriculture and most particularly within our breadbasket countries -- countries considered our greatest potential for increased productivity,” said Sylvia Mwichuli, AGRA’s communication and public affairs director.

The breadbasket countries are Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania.

“For example, in Tanzania where maize production has the potential to be almost thirty times a hectare and at the moment, the production is at two times per hectare,” said Mwichuli. “So we are bringing together all donors, all NGOs, all governmental institutions, to sit together to try and see how all investors can work together to increase productivity in that area,” she said.

A lot of organizations have been investing millions and millions of dollars in Africa, but with little result, she said.

Agra is trying to change that by sharing ideas from “different organizations and bring them all together to try and see how we can best utilize our resources for the common good,” said Mwichuli.