Dear Mr. Gates,
Your recent remarks on global food systems, as published in the New York Times and by the Associated Press, offer a compelling moment for dialogue. Yet, your narrative—centered on increasing agricultural productivity through synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified seeds, and replication of the Green Revolution—misses the heart of the issue: access, equity, and the deeply rooted wisdom of those who farm Africa’s land.
We must move beyond simplified solutions rooted in high-tech interventions and instead acknowledge the power of agroecological approaches shaped by local communities, traditional knowledge, and ecological integrity.
The Myth of Productivity
Let’s begin with a fundamental correction: we produce enough food to feed the planet. The challenge is not scarcity but access. Hunger, particularly in Africa, is less a result of low productivity and more a consequence of systemic inequities—economic, political, and infrastructural. It’s not a lack of crops but a lack of power and fair distribution.
By focusing solely on boosting yields through industrialized means, your approach risks repeating the very failures it seeks to solve.
The Fertilizer Fix: A Flawed Prescription
Your endorsement of “cheap fertilizer” as a cornerstone of productivity overlooks its costly side effects. Synthetic fertilizers account for about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and contribute heavily to nitrous oxide pollution—a potent climate accelerant. Furthermore, their production is deeply entangled with fossil fuel dependency, particularly natural gas.
More fertilizer does not equal more food security. It often leads to degraded soils, environmental harm, and increased farmer dependency on volatile international markets.
Instead, African farmers are already cultivating solutions: biofertilizers from compost, biopesticides from neem and garlic, and regenerative techniques passed through generations. These aren’t feel-good alternatives—they are practical, locally scalable, and environmentally sound.
The Green Revolution: Lessons Not Learned
You speak of reigniting a Green Revolution. But that historical chapter—often romanticized in Western narratives—left behind a trail of ecological degradation and deepened inequalities. In India, for example, the heavy reliance on chemical inputs and monoculture planting led to soil depletion, water crises, and indebted farmers. Many of those same farmers, burdened by financial despair, tragically took their own lives.
True food sovereignty requires more than growing more cereal. It requires transforming who controls seeds, land, and food pathways.
Seeds: Who Owns the Future?
You tout the potential of “better” seeds to cope with climate change. But these climate-resilient seeds already exist—developed by farmers, adapted over centuries, and shared in informal networks. Sorghum, millet, and indigenous legumes are just a few examples of crops naturally suited to shifting weather patterns.
Unfortunately, initiatives backed by the Gates Foundation, including AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa), have promoted industrial seed models that favor corporate patenting, monocultures, and centralized control. In doing so, they marginalize smallholder farmers and erode community-based seed systems that are both resilient and democratic.
Disrespecting Local Wisdom
In your comments, you imply that grassroots approaches are mere idealism—”singing Kumbaya”—while yours are the rational path forward. But this dismissiveness is not only disrespectful; it’s dangerously misleading.
Across the African continent, farmers are pioneering agroecology training programs, experimenting with drought-resistant planting techniques, and reviving traditional knowledge systems that enhance biodiversity and food resilience. These aren’t kumbaya moments—they are tangible, scalable, and grounded in reality.
It is your preference for genetic modification, digital agriculture, and fossil-fuel-intensive solutions that, in many cases, have failed to address the root causes of hunger or build sustainable systems.
Africa’s Agricultural Landscape: A Historical Reckoning
You suggest that Africa, with its low costs of land and labor, should be a major agricultural exporter. This line of thinking echoes old colonial scripts—where African resources were extracted not for the benefit of local populations but for foreign profit.
Africa’s food systems were structured to serve European and global markets, not African peoples. Today’s infrastructures, policies, and trade arrangements still reflect that legacy. The result? A continent rich in potential but locked into cycles of external dependency and ecological degradation.
Though you may not be responsible for this history, your foundation’s strategies often perpetuate the same extractive, top-down logic.
A Call for Humility and Collaboration
There is no shortage of African-led innovations. Community-based organizations, local farmers, and agroecology advocates across the continent are not waiting for saviors—they are building solutions. They ask not for prescriptions, but for solidarity. Not for charity, but for respect.
We invite you to listen—not just to economists and scientists in global north labs—but to the farmers in Malawi, Kenya, and Nigeria who are feeding their communities in the face of climate crises, political instability, and structural injustice.
Let’s move away from singular, profit-driven narratives and instead support diverse, inclusive models of agriculture that truly nourish people and planet.
Signed by:
Community Alliance for Global Justice/AGRA Watch, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), and dozens of environmental, farming, and justice organizations across the African continent and beyond.
