Can Fertilizer Subsidies Grow Africas Green Revolution?
Earth-shaking change doesn’t come from good ideas alone. Just as important are the people who have the power and courage to rise above the drone of skepticism to transform words into action. This is what Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika did when he defied the advice of some of the world’s most powerful institutions in a bid to save his country from famine after famine. A group of scientists had been arguing that funding fertilizer was crucial to elusive food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Until Mutharika came to power, however, no one was willing to turn their words into policy. The “Malawi Miracle” Professor Pedro Sánchez of the Columbia University’s Earth Institute was one of the scientists Mutharika chose to heed despite resistance from most of Malawi’s international donors. “We had a meeting with the newly elected president, Bingu wa Mutharika,” Sánchez recalled in an interview with TakePart. “The guy told several of us, ‘Hey, I didn’t get elected to be a beggar nation, and rig
