The African Continent at Cross Roads on Genetically Engineered Crops
Andre Kilian, a farmer from Bothaville, South Africa, is optimistic about the advantages of genetically engineered (GE) crops. Twenty per cent of corn Kilian grows is GE. Ed Stoddard reports that Kilian sees several advantages for the region that regularly suffers from food shortages. Kilian counts on the savings on insecticide use when pest resistant crops like Bt cotton and Bt corn are cultivated, resulting in reduced input costs and concomitant higher yield. On a continent suspicious of the technology and fierce anti-GE activism fanned by organizations across the Mediterranean, this is a rare and courageous conviction.
Notwithstanding the fact that GE crops have been tested vigorously for a decade in the US and elsewhere, opponents of GE spread the view that GE foods have not been adequately tested. In spite of millions of Americans consuming GE foods without any adverse effects, activists insist that GE foods pose unknown risks to human health. Several European countries are still hanging on to the policy of ‘less than one per cent GE content’ in foods.
Activists cite Makhathani, South Africa, to show that GE technology has landed Bt cotton farmers in misery, and that cotton planting fell by 80 per cent since 2000. A local Land Bank official is quoted to say that 80 per cent of Makhathani farmers have defaulted on their loans.
The Activists spread the scare that a) African cotton farmers are struggling to compete with the US on world markets, b) opening their doors to GE crops will only increase dependency on multinational companies, and c) exports would be affected as European buyers still insist on GE free products. North West Province farmer Willem Jooste says that he must provide GE free soya and corn, to the mills that supply processing companies like Woolworth. This is in spite of several GE crops recently approved by the European Union for cultivation as feed, in Europe. South African corn is estimated to be about 20 per cent GE, but some farmers are made to believe that there would be a premium on GE free grain.
In the rhetoric, no indication is to be found on a) whether non-GE crops fared better than GE crops, b) whether only GE crops failed the farmers, c) whether the African countries would be free from MNC dominance if conventional crops are raised, and c) whether African countries can meet their domestic and export demands by raising only conventional crops that have thrown most of Africa into food shortages and even famine, for decades.
South Africa was the first African country to introduce GE crops but field trials for Bt cotton are taking place in Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Egypt, while countries like Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Benin and Mali are rather wary.
In Kenya, Dr Florence Wambugu has championed the cause of GE in agriculture as the means of saving the African nations from food shortages, but she is the prime target of an often-personal attack, by the activists.
Right at the moment, cotton growers and other farmers in Mali, West Africa, formed a ‘citizen/s jury’ to cross-examine international experts, before reaching a decision whether or not to grow GE crops.
On the brighter side, the South African Government has indicated that it would reject the call for stricter controls, in the face of anti-GE campaign across the African continent.
The African countries should see the sense and reason behind the world trend of ever increasing cultivation of GE crops and benefit by going for GE crops.
THE AFRICAN CONTINENT AT CROSS ROADS ON GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS
Andre Kilian, a farmer from Bothaville, South Africa, is optimistic about the advantages of genetically engineered (GE) crops. Twenty per cent of corn Kilian grows is GE. Ed Stoddard reports that Kilian sees several advantages for the region that regularly suffers from food shortages. Kilian counts on the savings on insecticide use when pest resistant crops like Bt cotton and Bt corn are cultivated, resulting in reduced input costs and concomitant higher yield. On a continent suspicious of the technology and fierce anti-GE activism fanned by organizations across the Mediterranean, this is a rare and courageous conviction.
Notwithstanding the fact that GE crops have been tested vigorously for a decade in the US and elsewhere, opponents of GE spread the view that GE foods have not been adequately tested. In spite of millions of Americans consuming GE foods without any adverse effects, activists insist that GE foods pose unknown risks to human health. Several European countries are still hanging on to the policy of ‘less than one per cent GE content’ in foods.
Activists cite Makhathani, South Africa, to show that GE technology has landed Bt cotton farmers in misery, and that cotton planting fell by 80 per cent since 2000. A local Land Bank official is quoted to say that 80 per cent of Makhathani farmers have defaulted on their loans.
The Activists spread the scare that a) African cotton farmers are struggling to compete with the US on world markets, b) opening their doors to GE crops will only increase dependency on multinational companies, and c) exports would be affected as European buyers still insist on GE free products. North West Province farmer Willem Jooste says that he must provide GE free soya and corn, to the mills that supply processing companies like Woolworth. This is in spite of several GE crops recently approved by the European Union for cultivation as feed, in Europe. South African corn is estimated to be about 20 per cent GE, but some farmers are made to believe that there would be a premium on GE free grain.
In the rhetoric, no indication is to be found on a) whether non-GE crops fared better than GE crops, b) whether only GE crops failed the farmers, c) whether the African countries would be free from MNC dominance if conventional crops are raised, and c) whether African countries can meet their domestic and export demands by raising only conventional crops that have thrown most of Africa into food shortages and even famine, for decades.
South Africa was the first African country to introduce GE crops but field trials for Bt cotton are taking place in Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Egypt, while countries like Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Benin and Mali are rather wary.
In Kenya, Dr Florence Wambugu has championed the cause of GE in agriculture as the means of saving the African nations from food shortages, but she is the prime target of an often-personal attack, by the activists.
Right at the moment, cotton growers and other farmers in Mali, West Africa, formed a ‘citizen/s jury’ to cross-examine international experts, before reaching a decision whether or not to grow GE crops.
On the brighter side, the South African Government has indicated that it would reject the call for stricter controls, in the face of anti-GE campaign across the African continent.
The African countries should see the sense and reason behind the world trend of ever increasing cultivation of GE crops and benefit by going for GE crops.
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