GMW: Directing our food future

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GMW: Directing our food future

" GM WATCH " <info

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 10:26:05 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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1.Re: Why Is Africa Hungry?

2.Consumers have power to direct food future

3.Sustainable highlights

 

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1.Re: Why Is Africa Hungry?

from the GM Free Africa list, April 16 2006

 

After 35 years experience in Zambia I am convinced that the way to

increase agricultural production and improve the livelihoods of

small-scale

farmers is to promote organic agriculture and small or appropriate

technologies.

 

Open pollinated varieties should be emphasized rather than hybrids. Low

external input agriculture will double to quadruple production and

leave more profit in the farmers pocket.

 

Organic agriculture does not mean not using any inputs. There is a need

to improve the soil fertility. That is done with green manures,

manuring, etc. A deliberate effort has to be made to improve the

fertility of

the soil. Indigenous Knowledge is another tool that is often ignored.

The older people know a lot about trees, plants, etc. that are helpful

medicines for humans and animals. Let us encourage the use of this

knowledge by doing more research and promote this knowledge amongst our

agricultural students.

 

Paul Desmarais S.J.

Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre

P.O. Box 30652

Lusaka, ZAMBIA

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2.Consumers have power to direct food future

The Guardian (Charlottetown, Canada), April 19 2006

http://allshanadian.blogspot.com/2006/04/tonight-i-wrote-letter-to-editor.html

 

Re: Mr Lank's comments as published in Monday's edition (GM crops a

win-win for all).

 

While I agree that pesticide use on crops should be eliminated, I do

not believe that adopting genetic modification of our foods is a viable

alternative.

 

Pesticide use and genetic modification are two sides of the same coin -

they are both products of continued efforts to industrialize

agriculture. This intense indulstrialization of food production has

become the

domain of big business and the demise of family farms and local markets.

It is multi-national companies that will 'win' if we allow

genetic-modification to go ahead, for they are the ones that are

patenting these

new crops

 

I question the foresight of accepting genetic modification of our foods

based on the suggestion there is only a remote possibiliy that problems

could emerge. Pesticides have been used in agriculture for over a half

a century and we continue to debate the health implications of

introducing these toxins to our diet, whilst spraying more and more

each year.

One need only recall the enthusasim with which DDT was marketed and

accepted by the general public to realise the inherent dangers in

accepting a new science simply on the basis that it's not yet proven

to be

harmful. Aside from the potential health risks from GM foods (some

documented and some yet to be determined), I believe the greatest

thing we

stand to lose is biodiversity. The importance of diversity within any

species cannot be overlooked

 

There is a viable alternative to spraying our crops with pesticides,

but it is not GM foods. We need to trust nature's ability to protect

crops from disease, to maintain biodiversity and to provide us with food

that is rich in taste and nutrients. As consumers we have the power to

direct the future of our food. Buying organically and locally, supporting

local farmer's markets, eating in-season foods and encouraging our

governments to support sustainable agriculture are some of the simple

ways

that we can take back control of what we eat, where we shop and how we

support our local economy.

 

Shannon Courtney

Cornwall, PE

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3.Sustainable highlights

http://ngin.tripod.com/article2.htm

 

* some 223,000 farmers in southern Brazil using green manures and cover

crops of legumes and livestock integration have doubled yields of maize

and wheat to 4-5 tons/ha;

 

* some 45,000 farmers in Guatemala and Honduras have used regenerative

technologies to triple maize yields to some 2-2.5 tons/ha and diversify

their upland farms, which has led to local economic growth that has in

turn encouraged re-migration back from the cities;

 

* more than 300,000 farmers in southern and western India farming in

dryland conditions, and now using a range of water and soil management

technologies, have tripled sorghum and millet yields to some 2-2.5

tons/hectare;

 

* some 200,000 farmers across Kenya who as part of various government

and non-government soil and water conservation and sustainable

agriculture programmes have more than doubled their maize yields to

about 2.5 to

3.3 t/ha and substantially improved vegetable production through the

dry seasons;

 

* 100,000 small coffee farmers in Mexico who have adopted fully organic

production methods, and yet increased yields by half;

 

* a million wetland rice farmers in Bangladesh, China, India,

Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam who

have

shifted to sustainable agriculture, where group-based farmer-field

schools

have enabled farmers to learn alternatives to pesticides whilst still

increasing their yields by about 10%.

 

 

 

 

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