Abstract
In his acceptance speech as chairman of the Assembly of the Africa Union (AU) in February 2010, then President of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika said:
‘’One challenge we all face is poverty, hunger and malnutrition of large populations. Therefore, achieving food security at the African level should be able to address these problems. I would therefore request the AU Assembly to share the dream that five years from now no child in Africa should die of hunger and malnutrition. No child should go to bed hungry. I realise that this is an ambitious dream but one that can be realized. We all know that Africa is endowed with vast fertile soils, favourable climates, vast water basis and perennial rivers that could be utilized for irrigation farming and led to Green Revolution and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. We can therefore grow enough food to feed everyone in Africa. I am, therefore, proposing that our agenda for Africa should focus on agriculture and food security. I propose that our slogan should be ‘Feeding Africa Through New Technologies: Let’s act now.’”
This line of thinking by the late president, in an exceptional measure, spells out a clear and deep vision of how to approach the Green Revolution challenge and builds on the optimistic outlook for which the revolution should pride itself on.
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