AGRA President Agnes Kalibata to step down in 2025

Agnes Kalibata will leave her role as president of AGRA, an African-led organization dedicated to revolutionizing the continent’s agricultural sector, in early 2025 after a decade at the helm, the organization told Devex. Kalibata joined AGRA in 2014 following six years as Rwanda’s minister of agriculture and animal resources. She is leaving following AGRA’s policy of 10-year term limits for its presidents, a spokesperson said. AGRA aims to have a new president in place by May and is actively recruiting for the position. Kalibata’s tenure has been marked by two big-budget five-year plans, a major organizational rebrand, and a growing debate about whether the future of African agriculture should tend toward industrial farming or sustainable smallholder farming — or something in between. “Following a decade of growth led by Agnes Kalibata, the next President will lead the organization through its ongoing transition in which internal structures, processes, strategy, and culture are being re-evaluated and aligned with the evolving organizational strategy,” the job description for her successor states. The Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa, as it was formerly known, was established in 2006 with the aim of halving food insecurity and doubling smallholder farmer incomes in the countries in which it works. Since its inception, AGRA has received over $1 billion in funding from philanthropic organizations such as the Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, as well as the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom. Over the past 15 years, AGRA has held significant influence over agricultural policy on the continent and supported millions of farmers through large-scale programs that have improved seed quality, boosted organic and inorganic soil use, and provided access to financial services. Still, agricultural yields across much of the continent remain low, and more than 140 million people face acute food insecurity. An independent evaluation in 2022 indicated that the organization’s results have been mixed at best. Over the years, AGRA has increasingly come under fire from critics who have argued that it has failed to fulfill its goals while promoting industrial agriculture — including the use of harmful synthetic fertilizers and pesticides — instead of more environmentally sustainable practices. The “Green Revolution” was a mid-1900s movement, mostly in parts of Latin America and Asia, that encouraged the adoption of modern industrial farming techniques such as the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield seed varieties to boost production. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa was founded in response to then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s 2004 call for a “uniquely African green revolution” that took a more holistic approach and lifted African farmers out of poverty. In 2022, it rebranded to simply AGRA, removing the emphasis on the Green Revolution, and said it was moving toward encouraging a more inclusive and sustainability-minded approach to agriculture. This new approach is especially necessary now, the organization said, given that farmers need to prioritize building resilience amid the increased frequency and intensity of climate shocks. Still, critics are unconvinced. This year some faith and farming groups even demanded “reparations” from AGRA’s donors for allegedly harming African food systems through the promotion of industrial agriculture. AGRA said in a letter to Devex that it welcomed the open dialogue, that its efforts had improved outcomes for millions of farmers, and that agricultural transformation in Africa would need a combination of industrial farming and agroecological principles. AGRA expects Kalibata to remain through the first quarter of 2025, a spokesperson said.