The Oslo Declaration
on the African Green Revolution
African Green Revolution Conference 2007
Considerations of the Ministerial and High Level Roundtable,
based on deliberations of the 2nd African Green Revolution Conference,
Oslo, Norway, August 29 – September 1, 2007
An Agenda for Change
The African Green Revolution identifies a scenario of potentially explosive growth in Africa’s internal and sub-regional
markets, supplemented by increased flexibility and responsiveness of small-scale farmers. African governments have
made agriculture a top priority, with the African Union adopting the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development
Programme (CAADP) as it’s strategy.
Improved agricultural productivity and profitability, with increased food production, has the potential to significantly
contribute to the economic and social development of Africa: improving national food security, creating employment
and raising rural incomes – reducing poverty.
Though obtainable, to achieve the goals, requires a significant reorientation from the status quo – involving
new and innovative partnership initiatives, supportive policy frameworks, and the development of appropriate
investment mechanisms.
An Agenda for Partnership
The African Green Revolution requires an understanding of farming as a business at all levels of the value chain, and
an improvement of the enabling environment for investment in farming. Conditions that support agricultural productivity and agribusiness development need to be developed, and the capacity of smallholder farmers and of small- and
medium-sized agribusinesses need to be strengthened.
To bring about the African Green Revolution, smart public-private partnerships should be developed. Countries need to
develop opportunities for such partnerships; corporations need to seek opportunities from partnerships. Examples of
success should be highlighted and replicated, modern technologies should be harnessed to share learning and promote
leadership; appropriate rural finance and insurance should be made available to enable growth; international support
should be secured to underwrite the efforts.
What is called for is a uniquely African Green Revolution; what has started is a promising public-private partnership; what is required is a Global Fund to realize the potential.
Let
“ us generate a uniquely
African green revolution...”
Kofi Annan,
UN Secretary-General, Addis Ababa, 2004
The Oslo Declaration draws on outcomes of both the African Green Revolution Conference and the Ministerial and High Level Round­
table involving 18 Ministers of Finance and Agriculture from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda, held in Oslo, August 29 – September 1, 2007.
african green revolution conference
An Agenda for Action
in Support of the African Green Revolution
Decisions of the Ministerial and High Level Roundtable,
concluding the 2nd African Green Revolution Conference,
Oslo, Norway, August 29 – September 1, 2007
KEY RECOMMENDATION
1. Establish a Global Fund for the African Green Revolution.
SUPPORTING ACTIONS
2. Increase public and private sector action and investments in securing smallholder farmers’ and small-scale
entrepreneurs’ access to appropriate financing and financial mechanisms at every stage of the value chain, including the development of rural schemes for saving, lending,
and insurance.
3. Increase public and private sector action and investments in securing smallholder farmers’ access to appropriate and affordable technologies, particularly improved
seeds, mineral fertilizer, crop protection products, and
small-scale water management­, as well as information
technology.
4. Develop agricultural commodities marketing and price
stabilization mechanisms in order to secure better planning predictability, greater financial security, and improved
profitability for smallholder farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs within agribusiness.
5. Strengthen regional capacity to develop cost reduction
initiatives regarding the procurement and manufacturing
of fertilizer on a regional level, complimented by strong
ongoing­ commitment to expand the capacity of agro-dealers­
and local commodity markets at the country level.
6. Develop effective tools to monitor, benchmark and
evaluate­ the progress of the implementation of CAADP
as well as other initiatives in support of the African Green
Revolution­, including peer review mechanisms and realtime sharing of information.
7. Develop a strategy for the establishment and empower­
ment of participatory grassroots farmers’ organizations, such as Savings­ and Credit Cooperative Societies
(SACCOs)­, to enable farmers to get access to production
inputs and output markets.
8. Develop the Oslo annual African Green Revolution
Conference as the forum for public-private partnership
to support of the African Green Revolution, documenting­
success and highlighting innovation, allowing for regular­
interaction amongst African ministers­ and other key
stakeholders.
“Get rid of the fear of change.”
Norman Borlaug,
Nobel laureate, Oslo, 2007
The Oslo Declaration and Agenda also builds on prior commitments and communications, including the Millennium Declaration
and the Millennium Development Goals (2000); the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Programme (2002); the Maputo Declara­
tion (2003); the High-Level Seminar on an African Green Revolution, Addis Ababa (2004); the Sirte Declaration (2004); the UN
Millennium Project (2005); Report of the Commission for Africa (2005); the Cape Town Proclamation (2006); the Abuja Fertilizer
Summit Declaration (2006).
www.africangreenrevolution.com
african green revolution conference