Monopolizing maize

According to a new report from the African
Centre for Biosafety, in South Africa, "Monsanto's
Bt maize, MON810, has failed hopelessly in South
Africa as a result of massive insect resistance,
after only 15 years of its introduction into
commercial agriculture."
Yet the same variety is being promoted in other
African countries by projects supported by
Monsanto. And South Africa's supply of maize, a
staple food, is dominated by a few large
companies and consists almost entirely of GM
crop varieties.
While scientific and public opinion world-wide is
fiercely divided about the safety of genetically-
modified crops, South Africa, like the United
States, is a country where the dominance of
large-scale commercial agriculture linked to global
seed supply companies has meant an open door
for this controversial technology. Even if one
refrains from judgment on the safety for
consumers of the technology, the threat from the
oligopoly of large corporate interests to control of
smallholder farmers' control of their seeds is
undeniable.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press release
and excerpts from a new report from the African
Centre for Biosafety, one of the leading civil
society research and advocacy organizations on
this issue. The new threat, they stress, is that the
South African model and the sway of South
African and global agribusiness will be further
extended in the rest of the continent, including
through the dominance of corporate interests and
thinking in philanthropic projects.