The following article originally appeared in the October 31 edition of The New Vision, a Kampala, Uganda-based newspaper. A link to the paper is provided at the bottom of this page.


By Ronald Kalyango

OVER the past 20 years, Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) and its partner, the Global 2000 programme of the Carter Centre, have worked with frontline extension workers and several farmers in 14 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa to test higher-yielding technology for maize, rice, grain legumes and roots and tubers.

As part of its 20th anniversary, an international symposium based on the theme "Stimulating African Smallholder Commercial Agriculture: Searching for a Roadmap"is to be held in Bamako, Mali. The symposium is aimed at developing a roadmap to help the small-scale farmer to become an effective commercial farmer.

It is important to note that the emergence of a progressive and prosperous smallholder commercial class--the foundation for the future of African agriculture will be an SG 2000 objective over the next four years as it concentrates its resources on four African countries-Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda.

SG 2000 had its origins from the Ethiopian famine of 1984/85 when Japanese philanthropist, the late Ryoichi Sasakawa, mobilized funds to send emergency food aid to Ethiopia, and other famine stricken countries in the region.

Sasakawa also saw that the advent of high-yielding rice and wheat varieties, in combination with fertilizer and improved agronomic practices had helped Asia overcome periodic famine and set many nations on an accelerated path to agricultural productivity-led development.


Borlaug concluded that the knowledge and improved agricultural technologies needed to expand Africa's food production were available, but were not reaching the many smallholder farmers who grew most of Africa's food, mainly in nutrient deficient soils.

One major obstacle was weak government extension systems that were failing to link farmers with the products and information generated by national and international agriculture researchers. Thus SG 2000, a partnership between the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA), which serves as the lead management organization in Africa, and Global 2000 of The Carter Presidential Centre, Atlanta was born. The programme was funded by the Nippon Foundation of Japan.

Over the years new strategies have been developed to achieve greater impact in helping and small-holder farmers accelerate growth in agriculture.

SG 2000 has pioneered the promotion of the nutritionally superior QPM, which is now grown on 700,000 hectares in project countries. NERICAs, combining the best features of Asian and African inter-specific rice countries, with the assistance of organizations like the Japan International Co-operation Agency.