Modern Genetically Modified Food Crops Beneficial to Africa

James Wachai, author of the GMO Africa Blog, and a communication specialist on agricultural issues, has urged Africa to join the rest of the world in modernizing its agriculture in response to recent remarks from the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, which played down the role of modern agricultural biotechnology in the enhancement of food security in Africa.

Annan, now the chairman of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), recently announced the program will not consider genetically modified foods leaving individual governments at liberty to decide whether to accept or reject them.

“When you’re trying to look for a solution to such a serious issue as food insecurity in poor Africa, you put all options on the table, and this includes experimenting on such a technology as agricultural biotechnology, which has, already, proved successful in developed countries,” Wachai advised. “Africa must take advantage of modern genetically modified food crops to improve food production and increase their nutritional value,” said Wachai.

Wachai encouraged Annan to first seek the views of African scientists, policy-makers and even seed companies on potential benefits of biotech agriculture before adjudging it as irrelevant to AGRA’s mission.

“I advise Mr. Annan to be in a listening mode in his first 100 days in office. Let him talk to the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad), the development arm of the African Union (AU), which has, already, developed a blueprint for the renaissance of Africa’s agriculture.”

To read the full blog entry on this issue, go to “Will Annan change the course on crop biotechnology” or http://www.gmoafrica.org/