A second green revolution is starting to take root in Africa, according to Namanga Ngongi, a Cameroonian agronomist and president of the alliance for a green revolution in Africa, MondeActu.com has reported.

According to Mr Ngongi, the farming sector represents the biggest source of income for Africans and has the power to arouse economic growth and development throughout the continent.

In a speech given 10 days ago in Washington during the symposium of agriculture and food security, Mr Ngongi said that African farmers had to adopt an approach based on collaboration and the principles of the private sector and had to work in concert with non-governmental organisations and banks to find solutions to their problems, not least a lack of credit.

'We all know that the banks are reticent about lending to the farming sector,' he said. 'If I wanted to start up a farm here in the US, I am sure I could find a bank that has the support of the ministry of agriculture and would grant me a loan at a rate favourable to the financial markets. On the other hand, in Africa, only 2-3 per cent of commercial credit goes to agriculture, even though it employs 70-75 per cent of the population, accounts for 40 per cent of the GDP and 50-60 per cent of most countries' income.'

This is why, he said, his organisation had formed partnerships with the National Microfinance Bank in Tanzania, the Equity Bank in Kenya and the Standard Bank in Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana, in order to help put millions of dollars at the disposal of African farmers in the form of credit.

In addition to credit, Mr Ngongi stated, African farmers needed access to good seeds and up-to-date technology.

African governments needed to create the conditions in which the farming sector may prosper, he said, in order to arouse economic growth and development throughout the continent, as well as to feed the population of Africa.

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