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GM crops fail to deliver benefits to Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
10 January 2006 01:14
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=260937&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__business/
Ten years after the first significant planting of genetically modified (GM)
crops there are no apparent benefits for consumers, farmers or the
environment, a report made public on Tuesday said.
The Johannesburg-based African Centre for Biosafety and Friends of the Earth
Nigeria, based in Lagos, said that despite the promises of the biotech
corporations there had been no impact on hunger and poverty.
The 100-page report "Who benefits from GM crops? Monsanto and its corporate
driven genetically modified crop revolution" concludes that the increase in
GM crops in a limited number of countries has largely been the result of the
aggressive strategies of the biotech industry, rather than the consequence
of benefits derived from using GM technology.
"Contrary to the promises made by the biotech industry, the reality of the
last ten years shows that the safety of GM crops cannot be ensured and that
these crops are neither cheaper nor better quality. Biotech crops are not a
solution to solve hunger in Africa or elsewhere," said Nnimmo Bassey of
Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
He added the biotech industry continues to claim, misleadingly, that GM
crops play a role in solving world hunger in Africa and the world's largest
producer of GM seeds, Monsanto Company, holds an oppressive influence over
agriculture and food policies in many countries and international bodies.
Bassey said several Western African governments had been under "substantial
pressure" in recent years to introduce GM cotton.
In the meantime at the end of 2005, South Africa adopted a moratorium on new
GM crops pending a study by the Department of Trade and Industry.
"The moratorium on new GM crops in South Africa sends a clear signal of the
failure of GM crops in our continent. GM cotton in South Africa did not
solve our farmers problems, on the contrary it has contributed to increase
their indebtedness. The rest of African countries where > Monsanto is
promoting Bt cotton should learn from our experience".
The new report states that:
* GM crops in Africa will not solve hunger. Most GM crops
commercialised so far are destined for animal feed, not for food, and none
have been introduced to address hunger and poverty. GM Bt cotton in South
Africa's Makhathini Flats has been widely promoted by Monsanto as an African
small farmer/GM success story and a solution to poverty. However, since
2000 the number of Bt cotton farmers in South Africa has lessened, many of
them incurring losses and defaulting on their loans, raising strong
questions about the impact of GMOs on poverty reduction.
* GM sweet potato in Kenya was presented as a key GM crop to help African
agriculture. However by the end of January 2004, and more than $10-million
later, the results of the trials were quietly published in Kenya, showing
that none of the claims were true. The results revealed that the non-GM
sweet potatoes had yielded significantly more than the GM variety.
* A moratorium in South Africa. In November 2005, despite having
introduced GM crops in several hundred thousand hectares, the South African
government communicated that it had placed a moratorium on import approvals,
pending the outcome of a socio-economic study by the Department of Trade and
Industry.
* GM crops are not "green". Monsanto's Roundup Ready soybeans, the most
extensively grown GM crop today, has led to an increase in herbicide use.
Independent reports from the US show that since 1996, GM corn, soybean and
cotton have led to an increase in pesticide use of > 55-million kilogrammes.
The intensive cultivation of soybeans in South America contributes to
deforestation, and has been associated with a decline in soil fertility and
soil erosion.
After ten years of GM crop cultivation more than 80% of the area
cultivated with biotech crops is still concentrated in only three countries:
the US, Argentina and Canada.
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