GMOs in Africa Need a Makeover

One must always be careful to avoid oversimplifying when talking about Africa and development. The complex array of issues facing the continent differs by region, climate, culture, religion, ethnicity, and history. This post will argue that despite these differences, Africa as a continent must come together to tackle the issue of food insecurity and we must help by creating a public relations campaign to give GMOs a much needed makeover for Africans.

After reading Paarlberg’s introduction and listening to Jacqui’s presentation, it is astonishing to me that African governments have rejected the use of GM crops in nearly every corner of the continent. This should not be surprising, however, due to the failure of newborn bureaucracies in addressing many needs of civil society. On a continent where many have come to believe false science (i.e. South Africa’s HIV-does-not-cause-AIDS debacle), government officials seem to care little about scientific facts purported from the west. In reality, as is the case in the United States, most bureaucrats in Africa likely do not face the struggles of the poorest of the poor. Thus, GM crops do not seem to be a necessity to them and provide no tangible benefits to their immediate lives. Proponents of GM crops in Africa (if there are many) must overcome the ignorance of their peers to see the potential benefits for those poor who desperately need a gain in agricultural productivity.

As a wealthy, modernized country with an imperfect record in terms of foreign assistance and relations, the US government faces little chance of success in promoting GM crops and practices to African governments. We have no science yet to prove that these crops are safe to humans and the environment, but prior to the middle of the 20th century, who actually tried to measure potential hazards on the scale which we do so now? While I do not believe fears of public health disasters are unfounded, I do think that any fear we have now is premature. As a Kenyan official remarked in 2000, “Our confidence was established in the fact that if Americans are eating it, it should be safe for our starving people.” The notion proposed by an African leader in Jacqui’s talk that GM crops are “second-hand” or “second-rate” is nonsense. We do not say that clothes sewn by machines are any more “second-rate” than handsewn pieces. Technology has brought unbounded advances to the modern world relatively safely. While GM crops may pose long-term health risks, it is relatively clear that they have not produced dramatically dangerous short-term problems. One short term problem that Africa faces is hunger. Over 227 million people are hungry in Africa today (http://www.wfp.org/hunger/who-are) and more people die of hunger every year than those who die from malaria, TB, and AIDS combined (http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats). If that is not considered a short-term problem than I do not know what is.

The disappointing fact is that scare tactics have been used in Europe to steer people away from GM foods. The problem of food insecurity and hunger can be addressed by GM farming and should be. These hungry people, if they do not die of hunger, will likely die of common diseases endemic to their areas because their immune systems become so weak from malnutrition. Children especially suffer in this regard. Africans are unlikely to die from cancer or some other malicious disease potentially caused by eating GM crops over a lifetime. These numbers do show, however, that they are at a clear risk of death from lack of nutrients and calories.

How can we solve this problem? How can we undo the harm that has been caused by Europe’s GM labeling system? One thing that Americans can do to help persuade Africa to adopt these crops is continuing research on them. The US has ample funding to do so and could easily divert some more agriculture R&D money to studying the potential effects of GM foods. This is a type of “aid” that we can give Africa that proves beneficial to our state as well, considering most corn products we eat in the US are likely derived from GM seeds. Additionally, US NGOs and agencies like USAID can launch public diplomacy campaigns to show African governments that we do not know of potential health risks due to GM crops. We lead by example in this case through our consumption of GM products. As mentioned previously, if one of the wealthiest countries in the world eats GM products on a regular basis, why would these foods not be good enough for Africa?

I am aware that the issue of GMO implementation in African farming is a much more complex issue than what could be stated in this short blog post, but this is one important facet of the debate. While I have not mentioned the financial costs of GMOs to African farmers, these costs would seem much less significant with accurate information campaigns to display the benefits of GM crops. Africa needs more of a market incentive to adopt GMO farming, and a public relations campaign could help provide one important area of incentivization.