|
Commentary: Modern Biotechnology and Small Farmers in Developing Countries
Per Pinstrup-Andersen
 |
|
Per Pinstrup-Andersen, Director General, IFPRI
|
It must be hard for an African farmer to understand the debate currently raging in Europe about the use of modern biotechnological methods in agricultural research. Health and environmental risks may dominate discussions up north, but she wonders why they don’t discuss the enormous possibilities that biotechnology offers. In Africa, prolonged drought is slowly killing the farmer’s maize and cassava crops. Vicious insect attacks took a heavy toll on last year’s crops. She is aware of chemical pesticides, but she has heard they carry a serious health risk, and they cost more than she can afford anyway. Weeds are also a big problem. One weed called striga entwines itself with the maize plant so that her children cannot pull it up without uprooting the maize plant too. And using chemical weed killers would kill both the striga and the maize.
Even in a good year when the rains come at the right time and in sufficient quantities and when the insects are not too hungry, the yields of maize and cassava are scant, because the soil is deficient in nutrients. Every year she removes more plant nutrients from the soil than she puts back. Although she adds plant residues, animal manure, and other organic materials to the soils, she knows she needs to add chemical fertilizers as well, but the price is high.
Plants are like humans in the sense that their growth and well-being depend on access to sufficient quantities of the necessary nutrients. She has observed that first hand in the case of her children. If the crop is too small, there will not be enough food to feed the family, and the children will become undernourished and ill. She herself is always tired, largely because her diet is deficient in iron.
This farmer is one of millions worldwide who must eke out their livelihoods under poor and risky growing conditions while suffering from poverty, hunger, and poor health. Around the world, 170 million preschool children are undernourished; most are found in the rural areas of developing countries. Around 5 million of these children die every year from nutrition-related illnesses. More than half a million children go blind every year from lack of vitamin A, and iron deficiencies are responsible for illness among many millions of women and children.
The African farmer has heard that new research methods—modern biotechnology—may help solve some of her problems. These new methods, together with traditional plant improvement methods and better agronomic practices, can be used to develop new crop varieties that are drought-tolerant, resistant to insects and weeds, able to capture nitrogen from the air and even increase the vitamin A, iron, and other nutrients in the edible portion of the plant. She dreams about a day when she no longer has to worry about insects, weeds, drought, or lack of plant nutrients—or of not being able to produce enough food for the family. She dreams of a day when all the members of her family get all of the nutrients they need in their diets. And she dreams of a day when she can produce so much food that she can not only feed her family but sell enough in the market to be able to educate her children, pay for health care, and maybe even invest more in her farm.
Will her dreams materialize? That depends on whether agricultural research, including modern biotechnological research, is focused on a solution to her problems and on whether she will have access to the new crop varieties when they are developed. At present, biotechnological research for agriculture and food, which is undertaken mostly by private corporations, such as Monsanto, Novartis, and DuPont, is primarily focused on the agricultural sectors of industrial nations. That is where private companies can expect a reasonable return on their research investment. Poor farmers in developing countries do not present an interesting market for such corporations. Thus, public sector investments in such research will be needed to help these farmers. Except for a few countries like Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and South Africa, modern biotechnological research on food and agriculture is very limited in the developing world. A small portion of the international agricultural research undertaken by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) consists of modern biotechnological research, but it is far too inadequate to develop the appropriate technology needed by small farmers in developing countries.
Another reason why the dreams of the poor African farmer may not materialize is that some European countries oppose the use of modern biotechnology for agriculture and food. Some in those countries believe that the outcome of this kind of research is so uncertain that use of these methods should not be permitted. Others would like more information before they take a position regarding its use. It is for this reason that the European Union has put in place a three-year moratorium on approval of commercial use of new genetically modified agricultural products. It is hoped that during the moratorium, research and testing will provide adequate information on health and environmental risks to permit safe use of these modern research methods and the resulting technology.
Why should the European debate matter for developing countries? Can’t the developing countries simply establish their own policies? While they can in theory, it would be nearly impossible in practice. Developing countries cannot expect to receive any scientific or financial support for modern agricultural biotechnology from countries where such research methods are prohibited and where genetically modified food is considered too risky for their own populations to consume. And most developing countries will not be able to undertake effective modern biotechnological research for agriculture without this scientific and financial support from nations. Moreover, developing countries would not be able to export food and agricultural commodities to Europe and other countries where they are prohibited unless they could clearly separate the genetically modified products from those that are not. This distinction would be extremely difficult to make if the production of genetically modified agricultural products were widespread.
Of course, developing countries could try to follow the examples set by Argentina, China, and the United States, where genetically modified agricultural products (such as soybeans and maize, meat and milk) are already widespread. About one-half of the soybean area in the United States and more than one-third of the maize area is now sown with genetically modified seeds. In addition, many processed foods are genetically modified.
Industrial nations can afford to say no to the opportunities offered by modern biotechnology for agriculture. They can afford to pay more for food, increase subsidies to agriculture, continue to consume pesticide residues, and give up opportunities for genetically modified improvements in the quality and appearance of the food. The situation in developing countries is different. Low-income people frequently spend more than half of their income on food, and many are still unable to meet their nutritional needs. For the majority of the population in many developing countries, any improvement in living standards depends on productivity increases in agriculture. Modern biotechnological research, together with appropriate policies, infrastructure, and traditional research methods, can help the African farmer and millions of other low-income people around the world. Crop varieties that can increase productivity and lower risks, reduce unit costs in production and thus lead to lower food prices, improve the nutrient content of food, and convert nitrogen in the air to plant nutrients are all illustrations of the enormous opportunities that modern biotechnology offers low-income people in developing countries. The African farmer knows that modern biotechnology is not a silver bullet, but she sees it as a partial solution to her problems, and she should not be denied access to it.
|
