Reports

Dear friends and colleagues

Prediction of exacerbated drought in Africa due to climate change is apparently the driving force behind the establishment of the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) initiative, another prong of the so-called "New Green Revolution for Africa". WEMA seeks to develop drought tolerant maize varieties through a program which is being presented as a panacea for solving issues of hunger on the continent using marker assisted breeding and genetic engineering. That this is being done under the guise of philanthropy sidesteps questions about the real causes of hunger, disregards issues of imbalanced global distribution of food and underplays the financial benefits to be derived by the various proponents of the scheme. The possible risks to small-scale farmers, whom WEMA targets, include loss of biodiversity through gene flow, a dependence on expensive inputs into farming, possible exposure to intellectual and property rights claims and impacts on their food security. The most effective ways of supporting small-scale farmers is through agro-ecological approaches to farming. These focus on small-scale sustainable agriculture; locally adapted seed and ecological farming that better addresses the complexities of climate change, hunger, poverty and productive demands on agriculture in the developing world.

Click here to download a briefing paper titled Africa's Green Revolution Drought Tolerant Maize Scam by Dr Shenaz Moola which deals with the key issues. We trust that the paper will assist you in your work.

The African Centre for Biosafety has closely monitored GMO approvals in South Africa for several years. Several far-reaching changes are currently taking place.

A wave of new GMOs are expected to flood the South African market during 2009, as the backlog of commodity import permits that have been stalled since 2005, are about to be processed. There is every sign that the moratorium will be lifted, heralding the opening of the floodgates to a tsunami of new GMOs onto the South African market. These include GM rice and new varieties of food crops such as soya beans and maize containing multiple or “stacked” genes which pose huge risks to human health and the environment.

Read the full report here

by Edward Hammond and Mariam Mayet, February 2009

African Centre for Biosafety

On the 26th of October 2007, the University of Maryland applied to the US PTO (US 20080220429) for a patent over three genetic variations isolated from blood samples collected from communities in Kenya, Tanzania and the Sudan, following the comparison of the DNA of 43 different communities in these three countries by the university’s ‘inventors’ Dr Sarah A Tishkoff and Floyd Allan Reed.

How is it indeed possible for Dr Tishkoff to stake a legal claim on the natural genetic resources of Africans, which will not only allow exclusive rights to such resources, but also enable her to profit from future medical applications? It is indeed possible, because US patent law extends patent protection to life forms. Indeed, the PTO has granted patents for newly created micro-organisms, living animals, and for human tissues and genes, breaking the long-standing policy that animate life forms were not patentable. The National Institutes of Health, and others, have secured patent rights for fragmented gene sequences, many with unknown function and physical significance. This trend has enabled research institutions and corporations to secure patents for almost 5% of the entire human genome.

edited by Anuradha Mittal with Melissa Moore
Published by The Oakland Institute

Voices from Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa, issues a direct challenge to Western-led plans for a genetically engineered revolution in African agriculture, particularly the recent misguided philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation's Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and presents African resistance and solutions rooted in first-hand knowledge of what Africans need.

The report finds a lack of accountability, transparency, and stakeholder involvement in philanthropic efforts such as AGRA. For instance, a leaked Gates Foundation confidential report on their Agricultural Development Strategy for 2008-2011 actually emphasizes moving people out of the agricultural sector with the intent of reducing dependency on agriculture. The strategy report, however, does not specify where or how this new 'land mobile' population is to be reemployed.

The battle over genetic engineering is being fought across the world, between those who champion farmers' rights to seeds, livelihood, and land, and those who seek to privatize these. While promotional campaigns for technological solutions to hunger regularly feature a handful of African spokespeople who drown out the genuine voices of farmers, researchers, and civil society groups, there is widespread opposition to genetic engineering and plans for a New Green Revolution for Africa. Voices From Africa is based on the essays and statements of leading African farmers, environmentalists, and civil society groups, and brings to light the real African perspectives on technological solutions to hunger and poverty on the continent--and the solutions that the people on the ground believe would bring true development.

Download the Full Report

Download the Introduction | Download Part One | Download Part Two | Download Part Three