West African leaders willing to look into GM crops for food security - within limits
June 23, 2004
Ouagadugou, Burkina Faso - West African heads of state meeting here this week said they were interested in genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to boost food production but were waiting for proof that there was no risk to their people or the environment.
"Our obligation is to our people, to provide them not only with food security but also food safety," said Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure.
The US-sponsored, three-day gathering for the 15-member Economic Community of West African States aims to promote the use of biotechnology, including GMOs, in lifting agricultural yields on the continent.
Grain production in sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest in the world, with 128kg produced per person per year. Chronic malnutrition afflicts one-third of sub-Saharan Africans, or more than 200 million people, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
According to the organisation, biotechnology could help farmers in the developing world feed another 2 billion people in 30 years, breeding drought-resistant crops as well as African staples such as rice and cassava that require less water.
Burkina Faso has made the first west African foray into the world of GMO crops, allowing agribusiness giant Monsanto to plant transgenic cotton seeds.
Niger, which hopes a new national effort to increase cotton production will eradicate its own crushing poverty, is keenly interested in Burkina's transgenic success.
But biotechnology "should be studied in minute detail to ensure we are fully aware of the environmental, economic and social impacts of this revolutionary but still-unknown innovation," said President Mamadou Tandja.
One of the major drawbacks for African nations is the fear of becoming even more dependent on international intervention.
"Relying on genetically modified foods is only a short-term solution that will, in the long run, only breed dependence on multinational corporations," a group of anti-GMO organisations said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the UN yesterday warned that efforts to halve the number of Africa's poor by 2015 were far behind schedule.
"On current trends, Africa will not meet the goal of halving poverty until 2147," Mark Brown, the head of the UN Development Programme, said in Geneva, referring to the global millennium development goals.
But "at a fraction of the cost of the Iraq war for a year, we could shift that 2147 date back to something very close to 2015".
This would require "levels of public investment that we've been calling for in health and education basic infrastructure".
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