Des Moines, IOWA — World Food Prize laureate Gebisa Ejeta says he’s “greatly optimistic” that Africa can have its own green revolution because of improving national leadership and increased international support.

However, the Ethiopian-born plant breeder warned that outside aid agencies and governments need to let Africans take the lead in deciding how best to improve farming.

“An African green revolution need not be a mirage,” he said Friday at the final day of the annual World Food Prize conference.

But he said boosting crop production will “require an uncommon recognition of the empowerment of local people, local institutions and local governments.”

Ejeta, who was raised by illiterate parents in a thatch hut, discovered ways to dramatically increase yields of an African staple crop, sorghum, by making the plant resistant to drought and a parasitic weed.

He followed his achievements in genetics by setting ways to get the high-yielding seeds widely distributed to poor farmers.

Ejeta argued that small farmers in Africa could increase production of other crops and pull themselves out of poverty with training in simple agronomic practices, such as fertilizer usage and correct timing of planting.

He said an erosion in agricultural expertise in rural Africa in the past few decades fostered a reliance on aid agencies for assistance.

Ejeta also faulted the United States and other countries for reducing agricultural development assistance in favor of shipping their own food into African countries, a practice that hurt local farmers.

U.S. farm groups have traditionally pressured Congress to buy U.S. crops and ship them to areas with food needs rather than provide assistance to farmers in those countries.

However, that approach may be starting to change as result of the sharp increases in commodity prices in 2008. The United States and other members of the G-8 group of developed countries earlier this year pledged $20 billion in agricultural aid.

Although it’s unclear how much of that aid will be new money and how much was already planned, Ejeta welcomed the new emphasis on helping small farmers.

But he said “no amount of external assistance” can improve African farming without the support of an “inspired citizenry” and the commitment of political leaders.

Whether the United States and other rich countries maintain their interest in agricultural aid is an open question.

“Much of this attention is owed to the price spike of mid-2008,” said J.B. Penn, a senior official in the U.S. Agriculture Department during George W. Bush’s administration and now the chief economist for Deere & Co.

“That was a wake-up call to lots of people and lots of governments, not so much because of the hunger concern, I’m afraid to say, but because of fear of political instability.”

But he said that interest in agricultural development typically wanes once commodity prices fall. “We have to see now if the interest is going to be sustained.” (Des Moines Register)