A new report by the non-profit African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) shows how excessive reliance on genetically modified (GM) maize in South Africa has been inadequate to provide nutritional security, and will not be adequate in the future.
The report titled Transitioning out of GM maize: Towards nutrition security, climate adaptation, agro-ecology and social justice makes an urgent call to address the root causes of environmental degradation and hunger and malnutrition in South Africa – such as persistent poverty, inequality and unemployment – rather than relying on GM crops.
According to Mariam Mayet, Director of the ACB, ‘South Africa is at a crossroads: either it must abandon Monsanto’s GM maize including its bogus drought-tolerant GM maize seed or face an economic, social and ecological crisis.’
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Instead of trying to genetically modify maize to fit into changing conditions, we need to rather embrace a diversity of crops – particularly indigenous African summer grain crops such as sorghum and millet….
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: South Africa faces drought and rising food prices – can GMOs save it?
