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Reprinted with permission, Council for Biotechnology Information, www.whybiotech.com.
Growing biotech crops in Africa has
gained another voice of support in former U.S.
president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter.
In a speech in September at the United Nations University in
Tokyo, Carter spoke about the need
for further aid for sub-Saharan Africa. His goal in
speaking was "to address perhaps the most basic human right of all: for food to
eat."
Carter spoke at length about the need for more aid targeted
for agricultural development in Africa. He also made
clear his objections to those who would keep the fruits of biotechnology out of
the hands of people who need it most.
"We must combat the false propaganda of some European
extremists who condemn the use of genetically modified seeds," Carter said.
"Their misleading statements have been extremely damaging to Africa,
where some misguided leaders have rejected such imports."
In 2002, several African countries debated whether to accept
food aid—including corn developed with biotechnology—from the United
States. In the end, only one country, Zambia,
rejected the food aid outright. But the debate over the safety of biotech food
that is eaten every day by North Americans continues as hunger becomes even
more widespread in Africa.
In 2003, more than 21 million people in Ethiopia
and Zimbabwe
face the risk of "imminent famine" and about 4 million more people in Eritrea,
Mauritania and Mozambique
are at risk of becoming "highly food insecure," according to the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Famine Early Warning
Systems Network.
While a continuing drought is responsible for the immediate
problems, the underlying cause of widespread hunger is Africa's
below average agricultural productivity. The continent's average crop
production is the lowest in the world, at 1.7 tons per hectare—less than half
the global average of 4 tons per hectare.
To improve agricultural productivity, Carter called for more
aid for agricultural development. In recent years, lending by international
public-sector institutions for agriculture and rural development in poor
countries has been declining:
- Annual
World Bank lending has dropped 47 percent over the past 12 years.
- Annual
foreign aid by governments to agriculture fell by 57 percent between 1988 and
1996.
- USAID
funding for agriculture fell by 48 percent between 1992 and 2001.
Biotechnology is recognized as one way to boost
productivity. As Andrew Natsios, administrator of the USAID, has stated, "Low
yields due to pests, diseases, drought and even poor soils can be boosted by
application of readily available tools of biotechnology."
To date, South Africa
is the only country on the continent that has given farmers the green light to
grow biotech crops. The income and productivity gains have been substantial.
One study of the 1999–2000 growing season said average
yields in the Makhathini Flats area of South
Africa were 93 percent higher for biotech
cotton than for conventional varieties—with an average earnings increase of 77
percent. The farmers with the smallest plots saw even bigger gains. Emerging
farmers also said yields for genetically enhanced white corn were 220 percent
higher than for conventional corn.
Any yield increase can make a significant difference in
regions where half the people survive on less than $1 per day, and
three-quarters on less than $2 a day. According to a 2001 study by the United
Kingdom's Department for International
Development, even a 1 percent increase in yields would help raise the incomes
of 6 million people above $1 per day.
"In low-income developing countries, agriculture is the
driving force for broad-based economic growth and poverty alleviation," wrote
Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Marc Cohen in an article titled, "Modern
Biotechnology for Food and Agriculture: Risks and Opportunities for the Poor."
In his speech, Carter condemned those who portray
biotechnology as a threat to safety and to the environment without offering any
facts to back up such claims. "There has
never been any evidence of a hazard to humans or animals," he said. "Many of
the most widely used medicines have come from the same process of utilizing
genetic diversity."
Carter Plants Biotech Seeds
Carter offered further evidence of his support for
biotechnology. A lifelong farmer who continues to till land that has been in
his family since 1833, he said he grows biotech crops himself.
"Almost all the seeds (including cotton, soybeans and corn)
planted on my own farm have been genetically modified, to protect the plants
from disease, insects and weeds, and to provide higher nutrition," Carter said.
"My own yields have increased greatly."
While Carter is known as a peanut farmer, he does not plant
genetically enhanced varieties because no such peanuts have been approved for
commercial planting in the United States.
Carter's own humanitarian aid group, The Carter Center, has
worked for 17 years with the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) and The Nippon
Foundation to assist agricultural development in Africa.
His involvement with The Nippon Foundation's SG2000 pilot program has convinced
him of the need to provide African farmers with the technology and education to
improve agricultural yields.
"SG2000 has proven that farmers are eager and competent, and
that with good seed, contour rows, conservation tillage, moderate chemical
fertilizer, weed control and some guidance, they can triple production," he
said.
The Nippon Foundation, a private humanitarian aid group
based in Japan,
joined forces 19 years ago with the SSVT, a private nonprofit group working
toward developing agriculture in Africa. SAA, founded by
Japanese statesman Ryoichi Sasakawa, specifically sought to do for Africa
what the Green Revolution had done for India
and Pakistan.
The Green Revolution that spurred agricultural development
in India, Pakistan
and many other regions in Asia largely bypassed
sub-Saharan Africa because it's too dry for the
high-yielding varieties of wheat, corn and rice that thrive in irrigated plots.
Nor did the revolution focus on Africa's other staple
crops—yams, cassava, sorghum and cowpeas.
Carter said increasing agricultural production is the only
lasting solution to end hunger and malnutrition in Africa.
"African people have proven their eagerness and ability to correct their own
problems if given the chance," he said.
And the current stakes are high. Malnutrition contributes to
up to 50 percent of the deaths in African children, according to the World
Health Organization. Child mortality under five years of age is 157 out of
every 1,000—18 times the rate of wealthy nations.
"There is hope for a better future in Africa,"
Carter concluded in his speech in Tokyo.
Providing farmers with the tools they need—including
biotechnology—to boost agricultural productivity is the surest path to reach
that better future.
Reprinted with permission, Council for
Biotechnology Information, www.whybiotech.com.
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