Organic Farming Is Africa’s Best Hope, U.N. Report Says

Organic farming, not industrial agriculture, offers the best prospects for an African “green revolution,” according to a United Nations report. Examining 114 projects in 24 countries, the U.N. Environment Programme found that organic or near-organic methods more than doubled food production, outperforming both traditional and modern, chemical-intensive techniques. Through practices like composting and crop rotation, the report concluded, organic farmers also reaped environmental benefits: better water retention, soil fertility, and drought resistance. And by spending less on fertilizers and pesticides, they were able to afford better-quality seeds. With population growing and rainfall becoming more scarce, Africa averages 10 percent less food per capita than in 1960 — despite a global increase of 25 percent per person during the same period. “Organic can feed the people in rural areas,” said Henry Murage, whose Mt. Kenya Organic Farm has helped train 300 small growers in the past decade. “It’s sustainable, and what we produce now we can go on producing.”