US takes GMO pitch to Africa

2004-06-20 16:08

Ouagadougou - Delegates from 15 west African countries will gather on Monday in Burkina Faso at a summit sponsored by the United States aimed at sparking interest in genetically modified organisms as a way to boost food production on the world's poorest continent.

But whether the west Africans will join South Africa as pioneers in the use of GMOs, or will share Zambia's mistrust in the scientifically engineered strains of staple crops remains to be seen.

Some 400 representatives from the 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) will spend three days listening to experts seek to prove how biotechnology will help farmers in the developing world feed another two billion people in 30 years.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that 23 out of 53 African states suffer from dire food shortages, primarily due to drought.

Biotechnology has already been used, with varying degrees of success, to breed drought-resistant crops as well as African staples such as rice and cassava that require less water.

Those advancements may interest the Sahel countries within Ecowas, who have seen fertile cropland swallowed by the advancing desert and are able to produce just 128 kilograms of grains per person per year in the world's worst harvests.

More than 200 million people are malnourished on the continent that has seen its food production eclipsed by other regions in the developing world.

- AFP