Amos Namanga Ngongi, Ph.D. '76 in agronomy, was named the first president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on Nov. 14.

AGRA, with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, is an African-led partnership of farmers, scientists, governments, private-sector entities and citizens that aims to greatly increase the productivity and livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers through sustainable, cutting-edge agricultural practices.

"AGRA is set up to resolve key problems in African agriculture, including seeds, soil health and improving markets for farmers to sell crops and buy materials," said Ngongi, a former undersecretary-general of the United Nations and former head of the U.N.'s peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He added, "There is no acceptable reason for Africa's farmers to be poor."

For example, AGRA has created a program with detailed country plans to support breeding, management and large-scale production of seeds. "Crop production is to a large extent determined by the material that you plant," Ngongi said in a telephone interview from Accra, Ghana.

"African soils have been virtually mined; it is like land mining," he said, the way nutrients have been leached from soils through inappropriate and unsustainable farming practices. Solutions, he said, include such methods as teaching farmers to leave crop stalks on the field after harvest and rotating crops with nitrogen-fixing legumes. Ngongi said AGRA would also work to make inorganic fertilizers available and affordable to add more nutrients to fields.

To provide farmers with steady outlets for their produce that fetch fair prices in addition to offering them access to seeds, tools and fertilizers at affordable prices, AGRA also is working to improve infrastructure like storage facilities and will be working with banks and financial institutions across Africa to establish ready credit for farmers, Ngongi said.

Born in Buea, Cameroon, in 1945, Ngongi earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from California State University in San Luis Obispo in 1968 before continuing on at Cornell. In 1984, he joined the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) as head of the East and Southern Africa Service and led operational activities in 17 countries in that region. Ngongi was appointed deputy executive director of WFP in 1994, and in 2001 he was appointed undersecretary-general of the U.N. and special representative of the secretary-general of the U.N. for the Democratic Republic of Congo. In that capacity Ngongi managed the peace-keeping operation in the country and organized several local peace negotiations between warring factions, while also facilitating the delivery humanitarian aid to starving and sick people. He retired from the U.N. in 2003 and returned to Cameroon, where he has been farming his own land.

Cornell has worked with AGRA to support the African Center for Crop Improvement to train African Ph.D. students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa on issues that relate specifically to African agriculture. Similarly, Cornell researchers are currently supporting a new doctoral program at the University of Ghana to train African plant breeders to tackle issues relating to maize, cassava, sorghum, millet, cowpea and other crops vital to Africans' diet. Along with help from Cornell researchers in planning the program and advising students, Cornell's Mann Library has made resources available electronically to African students.

AGRA's board is chaired by Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the U.N. AGRA is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.