1.Hype soars in South Africa - GM Watch
2.S.Africa GMO crops soar by 180 pct 0 Reuters
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1.Hype soars in South Africa

This is a disappointing article which fails to clearly identify its source as industry-linked and with no balancing comment at all, apart from a token sentence tagged on at the end, and yet there are plenty of well-established groups critical of GM crops in South Africa to whom this Reuters journalist could have turned for comment.

The claim made in the article that GMOs help "small-scale farmers boost their incomes" and that, "Income (increased) manifold for small farmers" is directly contradicted by the most recently published study on GM cotton in South Africa which shows the GM crop is not benefitting small farmers:

"In conclusion, cropping Bt cotton in Makhathini Flats did not generate sufficient income to expect a tangible and sustainable socioeconomic improvement due to the way the crop is currently managed. Adoption of an innovation like Bt cotton seems to pay only in an agro-system with a sufficient level of intensification." [ie you need to be a big farmer not a small farmer to make it pay] (Hofs J.L., Fok M., Vaissayre M, "Impact of Bt cotton adoption on pesticide use by smallholders : a 2-year survey in Makhatini Flats (South Africa)"

Crop protection (2006) vol.25, p. 984-988)
http://publications.cirad.fr/une_notice.php?dk=533741

ISAAA's figures on South Africa also need to be treated with a certain caution. Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies in his paper "Genetically Modified Crops and Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa; an assessment of current evidence" writes:

"ISAAA implies that small farmers have been using the technology [GM cotton] on a hundred thousand hectares. Agricultural Biotechnology in Europe - an industry coalition - suggests 5,000 ha of 'smallholder cotton.' The survey team suggests 3,000 ha."
http://allafrica.com/sustainable/resources/00010161.html

In other words ISAAA's figures were 20 times higher than even those claimed by a biotech industry source (Agricultural Biotechnology in Europe).
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2.S.Africa GMO crops soar by 180 pct
By Sarah McGregor
Reuters South Africa, January 23 2007
http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-01-23T130326Z_01_BAN343399_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-SAFRICA-GMO-20070123.XML

PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's genetically modified crop area (GMOs) soared by 180 percent in the 2006/07 season to 1.4 million hectares, farm union Agri SA said on Tuesday.

One million hectares of the total was maize, the country's biggest staple crop, Agri SA president Lourie Bosman told a news briefing. The remainder was made up of soybean and cotton.

South Africa is virtually alone in its pro-GMO stance in Africa, putting it at odds with its food-importing neighbours, as well as big markets in Europe strongly opposed to so-called "Frankenstein foods".

But Bosman appeared confident about the trend and said South Africa's growth in 2006/07 had been the second highest behind India and made it the eighth largest producer in the world.

"These achievements reflect the trust and confidence of thousands of South African commercial and emerging farmers and consumers in crop biotechnology as the leaders in Africa," Bosman said.

'GREEN REVOLUTION'

African countries, including Zimbabwe and Zambia, have banned GMO imports, fearing they could mix with indigenous crops.

But Bosman said there were advantages to GMOs. For one, they helped small-scale farmers boost their incomes. Most of the 2,000 farmers in South Africa responsible for its phenomenal growth were small scale, Bosman said.

"Income (increased) manifold for small farmers. It makes (it) much easier to cultivate and control," he told reporters.

Wynand van der Walt, whose organisation compiled the statistics on GMOs in South Africa, agreed.

"Africa missed the first Green Revolution that started in the 1960s. The crop yields are really pathetic. Southern Africa can be a net exporter of food," said Wynand van der Walt, of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

Bosman said GMOs make up about 30 percent of all maize produced in South Africa but that could increase to 50 percent over the next several years.

Soy could increase to 80 percent from 60 percent while cotton would likely stay around its current proportion of 90 percent of overall output.

He said most of the crops were exported but downplayed the risk of crops being widely rejected, saying South Africa sets aside GMO-free crops.

Like other supporters of gene-altered crops, Agri SA says the bigger yields that result from GMOs ensure food security in a region plagued by droughts and food shortages.

Critics counter that GMOs are untested and hold potential environmental risks.

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