This paper is relevant to the impact areas in the following areas:
| Crops | Not Crop-Specific |
| Traits | Herbicide Tolerance, Insect Res. (BT), Insect Resistance |
| Countries | Not country-specific |
| Regions | Africa |
| Tags | food security, health, productivity |
The controversies surrounding transgenic crops, often called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), call for a
need to raise the level of public awareness of Genetic Modification (GM) technology in Africa. This should be
accomplished by educating the public about the potential benefits and risks that may be associated with this new
technology. In the last 15 years, GM crop producing countries have benefited from adoption of this new
technology in the form of improved crop productivity, food security, and quality of life. The increased income to
resource-poor farmers is a key benefit at the individual level especially as most countries using this technology are
in the developing world, including three African countries (South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt). Despite clear
benefits to countries and farmers who grow GMOs, many people are concerned about suspected potential risks
associated with GMOs. This sparks debate as to whether GM technology should be adopted or not. Given the
concerns regarding the safety of GMO products, thorough scientific investigation of safe application of GMOs is
required. The objective of this paper is to respond to the issues of GM agriculture in Africa and some of the issues
surrounding the adoption of GM crops between developed and developing countries. In this article, I analyse
relevant papers relating to the adoption of GM technology particularly in developing countries including the few
African countries that have adopted GM crops. The issues discussed span a wide range including: safety; potential
benefits and risks; disputes between the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) over
adoption of GM crops with a focus on Africa continent. This article is concluded by summarising the issues raised
and how GM technology can be adopted for agricultural development in Africa.
Response to Issues on GM Agriculture in Africa: Are Transgenic Crops Safe? (held on an external server, and so may require additional authentication details)
CropLife International fully acknowledges the source and authors of the publication as detailed above.