Africa and Biotechnology

[biotech2007]

I know this index has more to do with biotechnology from pharmarceutical point of view. But I feel, agricultural biotechnology is also relevant here. I am in love with agricultural biotechnology mainly because of the controversy that surrounds it.

 

Every time I write an article to pillory anti-technology activists for misrepresenting and misreporting modern agricultural biotechnology – I author GMO Africa Blog - I am branded an apologist for multinational biotech companies. Criticism against me usually intensifies when I demand that African farmers be allowed to cultivate genetically modified crops. Some of my critics contend that Africa is awash with food and the only problem is that there isn’t proper infrastructure to distribute it. My question has always been, “Why have Americans embraced modern agricultural biotechnology, yet they have the best roads, rail tracks and airfields?”

 

My critics are ill-informed and, I would argue, out of touch with reality. Most have never visited Africa. Their knowledge of Africa comes from watching the Discovery Channel or reading National Geographic Magazine. Africa and the West are like heaven and earth. They’re totally different. Africa is wracked in poverty, while the West swims in abundant wealth. American farmers smile all the way to the bank, while African farmers can’t even grow enough to feed their families.

 

To illustrate the disparities that exist between these two worlds, I invite you to watch these two videos appearing on Conversations About Plant Biotechnology website. One features Ouoba Issiaka, a Malian farmer explaining his experience with genetically modified cotton. The other features Jay Hardwick, a U.S. farmer with about ten years of experience growing genetically modified cotton, corn, and soybeans. The faces of these two men tell it all. The Malian farmer is evidently poor, while his American counterpart looks contented. My question is, “Why not give the Malian farmer leeway to experiment on what his American colleague considers a standard farming practice?