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Agricultural hi-tech won't work (27/10/2006)

SAY NO TO GM WINE!
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=87&page=1

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Agricultural hi-tech won't work
The Witness (South Africa), 27 October 2006 http://www.witness.co.za/default.asp?myAction=detail&myRef=47616&myCat=let

Letters section:

There is now ample research to show that GM crops regularly yield less, do not decrease chemical use, and drive small-scale farmers into debt . . .

The letter "Africa holds key to food quandary" by P. G. D. Chard (The Witness, October 25) maintaining that a green revolution driven by genetically modified (GM) seeds is the solution to an adequate food supply in Africa is disputed in this week's Farmers’ Weekly (October 27), as well as a new report by The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as "Food First", from Oakland, California in the U.S.

There is now ample research to show that GM crops regularly yield less, do not decrease chemical use, and drive small-scale farmers into debt. In Kenya, a GM sweet potato bred for small scale farmers was a total failure, while neighbouring Uganda developed a conventionally-bred sweet potato at a fraction of the cost which increases yields by 100%.

Food First points out that the green revolution actually deepens the divide between rich and poor farmers, and over time, green revolution technologies degrade tropical agro-ecosystems and expose already vulnerable farmers to increased environmental risk, and furthermore, that hunger is not primarily due to a lack of food, but because the hungry are too poor to buy the food that is available.

It goes on to state that without addressing structural inequities in the market and political systems, approaches relying on high input technological solutions fail, and that the private sector alone will not solve the problems of production, marketing and distribution. It adds that the introduction of genetic engineering, the driving force behind the type of green revolution which Chard advocates, will only make smallholder systems more environmentally vulnerable in sub-Saharan Africa.

Millions of small-scale farmers around the world are increasing their yields by between 100-200% by introducing low-cost, labour-intensive, organic methods. In addition, the global demand for organic produce is growing at 300% per year, while the demand for GM foods is becoming ever-increasingly restricted.