Kofi Annan has said, very firmly, that A Green Revolution for Africa will not use genetically modified organisms. In his inaugural speech in Capetown, Annan said:
We in the alliance will not incorporate GMOs in our programmes. We shall work with farmers using traditional seeds known to them.
There are some interesting nuances there in just what will comprise “traditional seeds known to them”. It’s perfectly possible to promote destructive monoculture without resorting to genetic engineering. I’m happy to wait and see.
My guess is that Kofi needs to catch up with the agro-parlance. I suppose he uses “traditional” as the opposite of “GMO”. Agra has a strong focus on breeding: “we will develop improved varieties for the full range of Africa’s important staple food crops” (more here).