AFRICAN GREEN REVOLUTION CONFERENCE

28 - 29 August 2008
Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel - Oslo, Norway

The third African Green Revolution Conference was held 28 - 29 August 2008 in Oslo, Norway. "Alliance for Action" was the theme for the dialogue that zeroed in on public-private partnerships, food security, improved financing and the continuing process to transform Africa’s agricultural landscape from subsistence farming to sustainable modern agriculture.

"Let’s pull together and change Africa. It can be done," exhorted AGRA chairman of the board Kofi Annan, speaking to the gathering that included government officials and ministers of agriculture and finance from ten countries. "Africa doesn’t want charity. Africa wants to produce and to trade – to expand its agricultural production and improve its market access," he told the audience, emphasizing the role of the smallholder farmer – a theme that was followed through in many of the two days’ plenary sessions.

Malawi’s president Bingu wa Mutharika delivered the keynote address, reflecting the success story that Malawi has become since the advent of the Green Revolution in Africa. He described the impressive increases in agricultural output over the past three growing seasons that have shown promise to turn Malawi into a "hunger-free" country.

Yara CEO Thorleif Enger addressed the conference, remarking, "I believe in the future of Africa." The key to increasing yields as much as five to six times, he explained, is to "get seeds and fertilizers to the farmers, and their products to the market. That will kick-start the African Green Revolution."

In addition to a post conference ministerial meeting, this year’s Oslo gathering featured a second day workshop devoted to aligning participants into groups dedicated to specific concrete initiatives. Group leaders presented their ideas to the closing session, outlining plans for actions across Africa that can be followed up on in the year ahead.

Arne Cartridge, Yara senior vice president and lead conference organizer noted the optimism that infused this third Oslo meeting. "From the point of view of Yara, and our co-sponsors, we have now laid a foundation that we will continue to follow up, through close contact with key actors in Africa, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and with the Africa Union and Nepad. The Oslo series has been brought to its conclusion," he noted. "The next conference will be held in Africa."