Blinded by its ambition and deaf to the demands of the African farmers and environmental groups, the Foundation has chosen to disregard prominent studies that challenge the conventional wisdom of industrial and market-based agriculture agenda.
The 2008 study by the UN Conference on Trade and Development and the UN Environment Programme, clearly demonstrates that organic agriculture outperforms chemical-intensive farming and is thus more conducive to food security in Africa.
An analysis of 114 projects in 24 African countries demonstrated that yields more than doubled where organic, or near-organic, practices had been used.
The research also found strong environmental benefits such as improved soil fertility, better retention of water, and resistance to drought in these areas. But these findings do not make it into the Foundation's agricultural plan.
