Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Founder and Chairperson of C4Impact and former President of AGRA, has challenged Africa to abandon simplistic narratives on farming and fully embrace a hybrid approach to African agriculture. She declared that the time for ideological purity is over, asserting with conviction: “Africa must use fertiliser… Africa needs organically reconstituted soil that we must reconstitute.”
Speaking at the AFSF 2025 Soil Values side event, Dr. Kalibata questioned why, despite decades of efforts toward a ‘Green Revolution,’ African farms remain stuck at low yields, far below the global average.
She said that the focus must pivot from merely applying inputs to determining the precise, contextualized intervention that can truly drive yields toward optimized metric tons per hectare. This is not just a scientific question, but a policy one, requiring leaders to mandate better use, not just more use, of agricultural inputs.
Beyond technical solutions, Dr. Kalibata introduced two “forgotten elephants” critical for sustainability. The first is land tenure security, which she insisted is the prerequisite for a farmer’s long-term investment decision.
Without tenure, farmers lack the incentive to fight the erosion and degradation that plague their fields, which she illustrated with examples of farmers immediately adopting conservation practices once their rights were secured. The second is the failure of right land-use planning in the face of rapid urbanization. She warned that the unchecked loss of prime agricultural land is an existential threat, demanding a political commitment to securing farmlands for future food production.
In closing, Dr. Kalibata made a powerful plea for epistemic humility, urging scientists and developers to re-learn from traditional African practices like crop rotation and fallowing. She championed the need to synthesize this invaluable local knowledge with modern technology, creating truly resilient and African-led food systems that go beyond mere replication of Western models.
