I wish to congratulate the organizers of this Conference 5 on the choice of the topic 'Can agricultural biotechnology help to reduce hunger and increase food security in developing countries ?'. Frankly speaking, as much as the previous conferences are important, it is this conference that will serve as the "crowning glory".
I personally work with Premier Seed Nigeria Ltd. which is a leading seed company in West Africa. In spite of the fact that agricultural biotechnology can help to reduce hunger and increase food security in developing countries, the fact equally remains that agricultural biotechnology must be applied discriminately. The governments of the developing countries need to watch closely what kind of technology they allow to be transferred to the agricultural input sector and agro-based industries of their economies.
The recent findings in the United States, for example, where biotech seeds of some major seed companies are found to be harmful to humans is enough of an evidence that genetically modified organism (GMO) materials would not always be found to reduce hunger and increase food security. The promise of higher yield and greater profitability to farmers by producers of biotech seeds is vain and useless if the on-going expose about these products is to be reckoned with. It has been confirmed that Aventis StarLink corn has become an embarrassment to the biotech industry and that food manufacturers in the United States have been meeting almost daily with government officials to deal with the issue. It was reported that Aventis had suspended sales of the seed for next year's crop and agreed to reimburse the government for purchasing all of year 2000's harvest. There is a controversy whether the corn can cause allergies in humans.
In consideration of the foregoing, these issues should first be clearly and completely resolved in the developed nations where the government is equipped to handle such problems, before their export to the developing nations. The seed industries and agricultural input sector in our countries would be satisfied with slow but steady and sure growth rather than adoption of the highly volatile GMO materials.
I am determined to follow closely the discussions during this conference.
Best wishes to the Moderator and participants.
Felix Oresajo
Financial Controller
Premier Seed Nigeria Ltd.
Zaria,
Nigeria.
Tel: 234-69-334804, 333202, 331630, 334092
Fax: 234-69-334804, 334092
faoresajo@skannet.com
[To contribute to this conference, send your message to biotech-room1@mailserv.fao.org For further information on the FAO Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture see http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp ]
-----Original Message-----
From: Biotech-Mod1
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 3:48 PM
To: 'biotech-room1@mailserv.fao.org'
Subject: debate on biotech, hunger
Dear members of this discussion forum on such an important topic:
I appreciate the contribution from Felix Oresajo in Nigeria [2 November], and wish to call everyone's attention to a published debate on this very topic, in which I participated. Rather than summarize all sides in this short space, I would like to refer people to the following web locations:
1) Ten reasons why biotechnology will not ensure food security, protect the environment and reduce poverty in the developing world. Altieri, M.A. and Rosset, P. (1999). AgBioForum, 2(3&4), 155-162. http://www.agbioforum.org/vol2no34/altieri.htm
2) Ten reasons why biotechnology will be important to the developing world. McGloughlin, M (1999). AgBioForum, 2(3&4), 163-174. http://www.agbioforum.org/vol2no34/mcgloughlin.htm
3) Strengthening the case for why biotechnology will not help the developing world: a response to McGloughlin. Altieri, M.A. and Rosset, P. (1999). AgBioForum, 2(3&4), 226-236. http://www.agbioforum.org/vol2no34/altierireply.htm
If you do not have access to the web, send me an email and I will email you back the contributions as attachments.
Peter M. Rosset, Ph.D., Co-Director
Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy
398 60th Street
Oakland, California 94618 USA
tel: +1-(510)-654-4400 x224 fax: +1-(510)-654-4551
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[To contribute to this conference, send your message to biotech-room1@mailserv.fao.org For further information on the FAO Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture see http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp ]