The fate of politically modified crops in Africa

Abstract

Current GM crops may not appeal to Africa because of relevance, proprietary issues, and a negative reaction towards GM foods in Europe. Nonetheless, Bt cotton may hold a promise if fair access to the technology is ensured and biosafety structures are put in place. However, Africans may continue raising the biosafety flag in order to avoid being cornered by unfair trade rules. Africans should not overstretch biosafety and socio-economic concerns to the extent of putting barriers against biotechnology adoption than the circumstances on the ground merit. African countries should build domestic capacity through formation of linkages with advanced research institutes and international organizations to make use of biotechnology. However, constraints to coordinating the existent but fragmented domestic capacity across organizational barriers ought to be overcome. In Africa, presence of vocal scientists that articulate the merits of biotechnology and experience with the private sector are positive signals and a strong political clout of the Ministry of Environment a negative signal for a GM-friendly national policy. A transparent dialogue among stakeholders should result in a shared vision required to balance GM regulation with the need to adopt available technologies and develop technological capability. Biotechnology-proficient countries may need to understand the concerns of the poor and may put the trade magic behind to reassure Africans to see biotechnology through biosafety lenses only. Copyright © 2005 The Japanese Society for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology.