Tuesday, August 23, 2011

GMOs: Is it a silver Bullet for Africa’s poverty and Hunger Quagmire?


The recent extreme hunger in Kenya is horrifying. It has put households in vicious cycle of poverty, starvation and utter desperation. Households trapped in abject poverty continue to grapple with the horrendous effects of extreme hunger and starvation and the diversity and statistics of such households are dazzling.
Hunger is used by proponents of Genetic engineering as a pretext to introduce GE food and seeds into Africa. However, increasing the production of GE food or cash crops will do very little to alleviate hunger or achieve food security in Africa. Those in favor of GE claim that by transferring genes from one organism to another, “improved” GE crop plants can overcome the constraints of conventional agriculture such as pesticides, tilling, weeding and low production. In this way, they argue food security in developing countries will be achieved and hunger will be eradicated.
However, GMOs impact on several fundamental human rights derived from the universal declaration of human rights. Amongst these are the rights to nutritious, safe and culturally acceptable food, the right to informed choice, the right to democratic participation, the right to safe and healthy environment and ethical objections.
On a high political level, Africa has been deeply embroiled in the GE debate. However, the public and farmers are still kept in the dark about GMOs and the risks that GMOs pose to human health, biodiversity and society.
GE alone does not and cannot form part of the solution to address poverty, hunger and food insecurity in Africa. Hunger and poverty are complex problems requiring appropriate solutions that address social, political and economic factors. These factors include equity, gender equality, power and control over resources. The government should actively involve in adopting a precautionary approach to GMOs while building on alternative sustainable solutions that responds to the needs of consumers and majority small holder farmers.
Eradication of extreme hunger is a major recipe for development. There can be no motivation for development among the poor if extreme hunger is not eliminated. This misfortune can be attributed to failure by development actors to identify appropriate hunger reduction programs for households affected by extreme hunger. The millennium development goals: status report for Kenya 2005 observes that the number of people living in extreme poverty increased from 44.7 percent in 1992 to 56 percent in 2002. The report concludes with the projection that this number will increase to 65.9 percent in 2015 if the current situation persists. Based on this prediction and if poverty will increase, then achieving MDG 1 will not be possible.
Irrigation should be the song that experts should drum into the government to seriously consider. Rain-harvesting techniques such as building of dams should be improved to store water for irrigation during the dry seasons. In the dry regions like North-Eastern, boreholes and wells could be dug for this purpose.
The government of Kenya should therefore design appropriate policies and /or implement existing ones to help reduce hunger and stimulate increase in food production 

Citizens and civil society organizations must join hands to ensure that the government is on track towards fulfilling the MDGs. We must stand together as Kenyans and challenge our leaders to keep their promises.

“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest” Nelson Mandela

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