The answer was an outright rejection to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) chaired by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and funded by foundations such as the Rockefeller and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

African family farmers rejected the technology packages – such as fertilizers and chemical pesticides, and also hybrid seeds- and stated that they wanted to use local seeds, and that they didn´t want to spend money on chemical products.

The study shows the results of citizen juries carried out this year, in which African peasants, pastoralists and consumers processed information from qualified experts and contributed with recommendations about the future of agrarian investigation.

"Food and agriculture policy and research tend to ignore the values, needs, knowledge and concerns of the very people who provide the food we all eat — and often serve instead powerful commercial interests such as multinational seed and food retailing companies," says project leader Dr Michel Pimbert of IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development) , based in London.

"Agricultural research and policy must shift to focus on what farming communities and food consumers want and need. Farmers and other citizens must play a central role in defining strategic priorities for agricultural research and food policies”, he added, according to a statement by the IIED.

The initiative was well received by the UN, since Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, publically expressed that he welcomed this research, that aimed to democratize research on agriculture and food in Africa.

Photo: http://excludedvoices.org/