GM WATCH comment: Interesting that USAID is pumping $160,000 into GM cotton trials in Uganda to help improve the competitiveness of Uganda's cotton farmers, given that the US is responsible for impoverishing those same farmers through the massive subsidies it gives to its cotton sector.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3857

The development charity Action Aid costed the impact of the US's over 3 billion+ dollars in cotton subsidies to its farmers - subsidies which even the WTO has ruled to be wrong.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406170658.html

With the US accounting for bearly a third of the world's cotton exports, the World Bank found that an end to all forms of global protection would increase cotton prices by an average of 12.7% over a 10-year period.

The largest gains would go to Africa, with exports increased by an average of 12.6%. This is because production costs in Africa are amongst the lowest in the world and the cotton quality very high, making African producers potentially some of the most competitive global players.

If the US really wanted to help people in Africa, it would do what groups like Action Aid have been asking:

- announce the immediate elimination of all forms of trade distorting subsidies to the cotton sector

- provide compensation and support to those involved in the cotton production sectors of poor countries who've suffered so grievously as a result of its policies.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200406170658.html

But far from offering poor countries even a modicum of hope or redress in this area, when the WTO's ruling against the US on cotton subsidies was announced, a spokesman for the United States trade representative responded, "We will defend US agricultural interests in every form we need to."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=3857

The truth is that the US administration doesn't give a damn about African farmers. It's in the business of defending and promoting US agricultural interests by promoting GM crop acceptance.

And that's not being cynical, that's USAID's publicly declared policy. The USAID website candidly admits, 'The principal beneficiary of America's foreign assistance programs has always been the United States.' And promoting GM is an official part of USAID's remit - one of its roles being to 'integrate GM into local food systems.' George Bush even increased the US aid budget specifically for the purpose of encouraging the uptake of GM crops.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=165

What's happening in Uganda is part of USAID's $100m+ programme for bringing biotech to developing countries. USAID's 'training' and 'awareness raising programmes', its website reveals, provide companies such as 'Syngenta, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Monsanto' with opportunities for 'technology transfer'. Monsanto, in turn, provides financial support for USAID.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=165

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Uganda: Usaid to Fund Shs270m Pest Resistant Cotton Trials
The Monitor (Kampala), 21 May 2007 http://allafrica.com/stories/200705210041.html

The United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) is to inject $160,000 (about Shs272 million) on pest resistant cotton trials.

Through its Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Programme (APEP), Usaid will facilitate the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) to undertake trials on the pest cotton referred to as Bt cotton.

Bt is a scientific name for Baccilus Thuringiensis, a beneficial bacterium that kills insects. It is a major component of pesticide industry used for control of specific caterpillar-like crop pests.

APEP Managing Director Clive Drew said on May 7 the trials are expected to start by end of May. Mr Drew said Usaid is still waiting approval from the National Biosafety Committee under the National Council of Science and Technology (NCST).

"When approved, confined field trials will be conducted to test the effects of Bt on bollworms compared to controlled cotton, which will only be sprayed," Mr Drew said. "But because of the porous nature of our borders, we got to move very fast in getting the testing done in accordance with the legal framework."

Mr Drew, however, said the trials would not be released commercially. "We don't know the outcome yet, the only thing we know is that whenever it is tested, it does not end up being released for commercial purposes," he said.

"As part of the commercial procedure, the trial sites are guarded. All materials used will be completely destroyed. So there is no chance of productive materials leaking."

The Biosafety Officer Uganda National Council of Science and Technology, Mr Arthur Makara, said the council was still reviewing the application and would come up with the date the trials will take off.

Mr Makara said the technology has a potential to increase yields, reduce number of sprays and costs of pesticides. "Yes, the confined field trials will be done, they are still at research stage but it is hard to fix a particular date as to when," Mr Makara said.

A research scientist at Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute, Mr Godfrey Arinaitwe, said during a field visit to South Africa recently that the trials will be conducted in conjunction with Cotton Development Authority (CDO), will try two technologies.

Mr Arinaitwe said one will be resistance to herbicide and the other will be resistance to the cotton pest called bollworms.

"It is a very good technology even for small scale farmers. You don't