There Are Better Ways to Feed Africa Than With GM Crops

[Guest guest]

There Are Better Ways to Feed Africa Than With GM Crops

 

Sunday Times (Johannesburg)

ANALYSIS

March 2, 2003

Posted to the web March 1, 2003

 

By Dulcie Krige

Johannesburg

 

CAN Africa feed itself? Many people will answer this question in the

negative, prompting the biotechnology industry to insist that genetic

modification is the way to increase crop yields.

 

But this argument is based on a lack of understanding of the realities

of food production in Africa.

 

The problem is not a lack of food. It is that areas of surplus are often

deficient in infrastructure (roads, railways) to convey food to the

places where crops have failed.

 

Ethiopia, often thought of as a place of famine, has generally produced

more than enough food to meet its needs. However, droughts last year

reduced crop production in some areas, and Ethiopia did not have the

transport infrastructure to redistribute the food.

 

Similarly, the European Union has pointed out that GM-free locally

produced grain is available in abundance in Southern Africa and that it

is EU policy to buy this grain and pay for its transport to the areas

where there are shortages. This has the advantage, for African farmers,

of providing a market for their crops.

 

A problem with using biotechnology to alleviate African famine is that

no GM seeds have been commercially developed with the purpose of

increasing yields. Some 80% of the seed produced commercially is

designed to resist herbicides. These can then be used extensively on

crops to kill weeds.

 

However, this does not lead to improved yield but may decrease the

labour requirements for crop production - a distinct disadvantage in

Africa.

 

The biotechnology industry has overlooked the high cost of GM seed. How

will farmers purchase seeds when poverty is the major limitation on

small farmer production throughout Africa? Without money to erect

fencing, they suffer neighbours' goats eating their crops. Without money

for pipes and small pumps, they have to carry water from rivers during

periods of low rainfall. Without transport they cannot get their crops

to markets, and without storage facilities they cannot keep a surplus

from one year to the next.

 

GM seed does nothing to remedy these limitations.

 

Another problem is that GM seeds are patented. It is difficult for a

farmer who has used his own seed for generations to understand that, as

a result of policies determined in the US, there are intellectual

property rights over living organisms. Policing these rights on behalf

of Western multinationals would further deflect Africa's resources from

where they should be directed: at feeding the poor.

 

Another issue which needs attention is the impression that Africa's

rejection of GM crops and seeds has been instigated by Europe. In fact,

the seven Zambian scientists who recently investigated the acceptability

or otherwise of GM food aid visited the US and South Africa, in addition

to Europe. They made their decision on the basis of food safety issues,

including antibiotic resistance and the possibility of allergies. Dr

Mwananyanda Lewanika, a biochemist, pointed out that, as maize is a

staple food for the poor in Africa and people already have low immune

systems, deleterious effects of consuming GM food were more likely than

in the US.

 

So is there a way in which Africa can increase its food output without

resorting to expensive technology?

 

Scientists have developed a natural system which dramatically reduces

losses from stem borer beetle and from the Striga weed. These

interventions have slashed losses from 40% to 4.6%.

 

The introduction of a wasp has reduced stem borer infestation by 53%.

And these methods cost the farmer nothing .

 

Food shortages in Africa are a complex interplay of drought, poverty,

lack of transport and storage infrastructure, shortages of agricultural

extension officers and political instability. It is simplistic to

contend that the biotechnology industry can alleviate these shortages by

selling more of its expensive seed to the small farmers who produce more

than 70% of Africa's food crops.

 

A final thought: what would happen if the R180-million that our

government plans to spend annually promoting private sector

biotechnology development were spent instead on removing constraints

facing small farmers? Could we lead Africa into a food-production

renaissance? - Dulcie Krige

 

Krige is a development consultant who has researched poverty in Southern

Africa