Agricultural Biotechnology: African scientists and agricultural organizations welcome AGRA
Checkbiotech
Hans Lombard
July 27, 2007
Here’s an excerpt from a great article by Hans Lombard on agricultural biotechnology in Africa…
AFRICAN scientists and agricultural organizations yesterday welcomed the clarification by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) that the organization "supports the use of science and technology" – including genetic modification (GM) technology – "to aid Africa's smallholder farmers in their urgent efforts to end widespread poverty and hunger.”
Five major organizations working in agriculture – AfricaBio, the Africa Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF), Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (AHBFI), Biotechnology-Ecology Research and Outreach Consortium (BioEROC) and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) – said the AGRA position is consistent with that of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in its report on biotechnology which states that “regional economic integration in Africa should embody the building and accumulation of capacities to harness and govern modern biotechnology.”
AGRA says in a statement that its mission “is not to advocate for or against the use of genetic engineering. We believe it is up to governments, in partnership with their citizens, to use the best knowledge available to put in place policies and regulations that will guide the safe development and acceptable use of new technologies, as several African countries are in the process of doing.”
The Alliance said its mission is to use the wide variety of tools and techniques available now to make a dramatic difference for Africa’s smallholder farmers as quickly as possible. It said it has chosen to focus on conventional breeding techniques but would “consider funding the development and deployment of such new (GM) technologies only after African governments have endorsed and provided for their safe use.”
The Alliance clarified that conventional breeding was its starting point, however it pointed out that since science and society are continually evolving, and it does preclude future funding for genetic engineering as an approach to crop variety improvement when it is the most appropriate tool to address an important need of small-scale farmers.
Last week, AGRA’s new president, former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, was reported as having ruled out the GM technology as one of AGRA’s strategies in the fight against poverty and hunger in Africa. Anti-GM organizations hailed his statement as a sign that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – a funding partner to AGRA – has changed its strategy on the GM technology.
South African-based AfricaBio President, Prof. Diran Makinde, said “African agricultural organizations welcome the clarification from AGRA. We cannot fault their strategy and we agree that conventional plant breeding has not received sufficient attention or investment in Africa, leaving untapped the inherent genetic potential available in African crops.”
Africa Harvest CEO, Dr. Florence Wambugu, said “Africa’s leaders had asked African scientists to come up with a consensus position on this new technology. The NEPAD report clearly states that the continent must have the freedom to innovate. Many countries and regional organizations are busy domesticating the NEPAD Biotechnology Policy and will resist any effort to erode their freedom to innovate….”
Full article at Checkbiotech.
