Just so you know that all the biotech boosters are singing from the same hymn sheet, here's another article on GM in Africa.

As you may remember, Florence Wambugu told Reuters that resistance to GM in Africa has been "against foreign companies" and that GM crops would gain wider acceptance in Africa as more "homegrown projects emerge".

The following article "Africans embrace biotech future" promotes an exactly similar theme. Its subtitle speaks of, "Homegrown initiatives empowering African farmers, improving yields".

This emphasis on "homegrown" is underlined by references to:
"the recent explosion of local biotechnology initiatives, which farmers themselves often lead"
and
"Grassroots development of agricultural biotechnology across the continent"

We're also told that, "Local farmers and institutions already are vested in Africa's biotechnology future", as evidenced by 4 "trailblazing biotechnology initiatives" which the article describes.

Among these "local", "grassroots", "homegrown" biotechnology initiatives is one in Kenya, involving fighting stem borers with Bt corn. In describing the initiative, the article makes reference to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), the International Centre for Maize and Wheat Research (CIMMYT), and "Kenyan scientists". It also says, "Kenya and KARI have positioned themselves to be leaders in sub-Saharan Africa".

The one thing the article makes no mention of is the real initiator and driving force behind this "empowering" project: the Syngenta Foundation which, as its name suggests, is the creature of the world's largest biotechnology company. Syngenta directors occupy 3 of the 5 seats on the Foundation's board, with the Chairman of the Board of Syngenta acting as the Foundation's President.

So now we know what they mean by "grassroots" and "homegrown". As for being farmer-led, according to a report by Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies, the Syngenta Foundation's activities have more to do with PR than with delivering real benefits to poor farmers.

DeGrassi says that, "The Syngenta Foundation has a poor record of supporting client-driven public agricultural research institutes" and that its track record has been marked by a failure to take account of the views and needs of local farmers.

DeGrassi also notes that stem borers are a relatively insignificant contributing factor to poverty in countries like Kenya and that, in any case, other less generously funded non-GM projects have not only already proven capable of protecting against stem borers in farmers fields but are already being adopted.
http://allafrica.com/sustainable/resources/00010161.html

Another example given in the article below of local farmers and institutions investing in GMOs is headed "South Africa: Increasing Biotech Crop Acreage". Read this section carefully and you'll notice it avoids saying anything at all about GM cotton in South Africa beyond the fact that it was among the first genetically engineered crops approved there for commercial production.

This silence speaks volumes. This project was once the GM industry's showcase for how transgenic crops could help the poor. African scientists, farmers, and journalists were once brought in droves to observe this project. The chairman of the local farmers' association, TJ Buthelezi, has been flown halfway around the world to sing its praises. He even stood next to the US trade representative, when he launched the US's WTO action against the EU over GM crops and food.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=184

But now local GM cotton farmers are in such debt that credit institutions have withdrawn from the area because the farmers cannot repay their loans. And instead of the "Increasing Biotech Crop Acreage" trumpeted in the article, the number of farmers planting cotton has dropped by 80% in the last few years. (THE SUCCESS STORY THAT NEVER WAS)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5287

The article below also sings the praises of AfricaBio, describing it as "an independent, nonprofit biotechnology association", which "has offered local farmers training and tools" while working "with regional leaders and food buyers to promote consumer education."

Among the influential members of this "independent" organisation that the article somehow fails to mention are Monsanto, (Terminator developers) Delta and Pine Lands, Syngenta and Pioneer Hi Breed, plus their South African subsidary companies.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=170

Finally, the article ends with the following quote, "It is only by adopting biotechnology that Africans can experience equitable distribution of wealth". They should try telling that to South Africa's debt-laden former cotton farmers who paid the price of embracing biotech.

But then this is a world where "African" initiatives that are "local", "homegrown", "grassroots", "farmer led", "empowering" and "independent" turn out to be the products of corporate board rooms in Basel, St. Louis and Des Moines.
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Africans embrace biotech future
Homegrown initiatives empowering African farmers, improving yields
CBI (Council for Biotechnology Information) News
Monday, October 31, 2005
http://www.whybiotech.com/index.asp

As individual African farmers plant, nurture and harvest crops successfully, they build a better quality of life for their often-struggling families, communities and nations.

But when those farmers face ongoing battles against drought, disease and infestations, their countries grow dependent on international subsidies and agricultural imports, and they clamber to maintain a hopeful vision of self-sufficiency. That's why the recent explosion of local biotechnology initiatives, which farmers themselves often lead, may be critically important to the long-term sustainability of African agriculture.

Grassroots development of agricultural biotechnology across the continent has the support of senior scientists and policymakers through the African Panel on Biotechnology. The panel is advising the African Union, an organization of African states, on how to adopt biotechnology in appropriate ways that involve local growers and integrate with community customs. The panel's mission is "a