GM crops will not feed Africa

16 March 1999

GM crops will not feed Africa

EXPERTS are disputing claims by biotechnology companies that genetically modified (GM) crops will solve Africas food problems.

The adoption of GM crops would cause the further loss of diverse plant species needed to breed new varieties, warns Dr Hans Herren, director of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi.

Michael Stocking, professor of natural resources at the University of East Anglia, believes that GM crops would impose an additional management on farmers and increase their risks.

Dr Paul Senghor of the Institute of Agricultural Research at Senegals Ministry of Agriculture says that Africas food security should not depend on risky cops.

Tewolde Egziabher of the Institute for Sustainable Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says people go hungry because they have no money to buy food, not because there is no food for them to buy.

• Financial Times 16/03/99 page 34