Do you think African countries should provide the practices of GMOs in their farming practices?

Question

What do you think, would this be more beneficial than harmful?

Answer 1

In an area where a GMO is appropriate and the specific GMO is one that doesn't require additional resources, like toxic chemicals (herbicide resistant plants) that necessitate a higher experience level and additional equipment, or deemed to be possibly a threat to health (if you wouldn't use it should anyone), then anything to help is good. Many issues in some African nations with respect to feeding the population in need are based on severe environmental problems like drought or political/ economic issues like war and the displacement of huge numbers of people. Agriculture is not the answer with out stability; rain and peace. The larger issue is political unrest and civil war/ sectarian violence that places people in a position that they need to move immediately where they are shuffled around to camps with a poor environment already in drought situations. Those situations and antagonisms from without cause socio-economic problems within resulting in war and a cycle that ends up with the deaths of huge numbers. Keep in mind also that under those conditions one can not wait for a crop to come in even provided there is a suitable infra structure to support agriculture. In other places GMO's may be of value provided the crop is an acceptable product given the cultural norms and environmental issues. It appears from what I have seen that a great many products that are GMO's seem to be developed for a different population. They cost more, their appeal is to a different culture (and reasoning for their use), and they are not as adaptable to such simple techniques as may be associated with a simple farming community.

Answer 2

The main reason GMO crops are banned in most African countries is because some of their European grain customers refuse to accept GMO origin grain.  That kicks the US out of those markets and the African nations saw a great opportunity to jump in and fill the void.

As the other responders said, most African countries have much bigger problems than GMOs.  Roundup Ready corn or beans isn't going to make a bit of difference when a warring ethnic group comes through and burns your crops.  Another fact is that nearly all of Africa's problem of human starvation is man made.   For example, the starving people you see in southern Chad have had their crops burned and shipments of food to the area stopped by Chad government supported groups.  Why waste bullets when they can starve them out?

Answer 3

Most African countries need so many things to help them grow food for themselves that GMO's would be far down the list of things that would help them that GMO's should not even considered for them. The one exception to this is a GMO called Golden Rice that would give them nutrition they need to save the lives of children. They need improved varieties of seed they can save for the next crop, they need a system of credit, a source of fertilizer, means of preparing their land for clearing and planting, roads for getting their crops to market, etc. GMO's in most cases would not help them at all, for example Roundup Ready soybeans would not help you at all if you could not afford or have access to Roundup. So in answer to your question, GMO's would not help them at all, with the exception I mentioned, and be harmful in the sense that money would be spent on GMO's that could better spent on more beneficial things.