Crop biotechnology and the African farmer

Eicher, Carl K.; Maredia, Mywish K.; Sithole-Niang, Idah

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2006.01.002

Cited by 53 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…This figure is comparable to the investments of the whole CGIAR system spending US$450 million in agricultural R&D generally, of which just a small share is allocated to agrobiotechnology R&D (Eicher et al, 2006;Virgin et al, 2007). Compared to the notable agrobiotechnology R&D efforts made by the private sector of developed countries, attempts made by public and even private sectors of developing countries were limited in number forcing them to import GM technology from elsewhere.…”

Section: Research and Development (Randd) Efforts And Flow Of Gm Technomentioning

confidence: 83%

“…This is because GM crop R&D process in developing countries is both costly and time consuming. Reviewing seven case studies undertaken in Africa, Eicher et al (2006) indicate that in reality, it takes 10-15 years for developing countries to develop GM crops and reach smallholders. This is much longer than the expected time frame (3-5 years) considered by these countries in their research agendas.…”

Section: Research and Development (Randd) Efforts And Flow Of Gm Technomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetically modified crops and small-scale farmers: main opportunities and challenges

Azadi

Samiee

Mahmoudi

et al. 2015

Critical Reviews in Biotechnology

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Although some important features of genetically modified (GM) crops such as insect-resistance, herbicide-tolerance and drought-tolerance might seem beneficial to small-scale farmers, the adoption of GM technology by smallholders is still slight. Identifying pros and cons of using this technology is important to understand the impacts of GM crops on these farmers. This article reviews the main opportunities and challenges of GM crops for small-scale farmers in developing countries. The most significant advantages of GM crops include being independent to farm size, environment protection, improvement of occupational health issues, and the potential of bio-fortified crops to reduce malnutrition. Challenges faced by small-scale farmers for adoption of GM crops comprise availability and accessibility of GM crops seeds, seeds dissemination and price, and lack of adequate information. In addition, R&D and production costs in using GM crops make it difficult for these farmers to adopt these crops. Moreover, intellectual property rights regulations may deprive resource poor farmers from the advantages of GM technology. Finally, concerns on socio-economic and environment safety issues are also addressed in this paper.

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Section: Research and Development (Randd) Efforts And Flow Of Gm Technomentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Research and Development (Randd) Efforts And Flow Of Gm Technomentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetically modified crops and small-scale farmers: main opportunities and challenges

Azadi

Samiee

Mahmoudi

et al. 2015

Critical Reviews in Biotechnology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, despite this large labour force African agricultural growth has actually been declining over the last two decades. In fact the cereal yield has been flat since 1960 (Eicher et al, 2006) with the annual growth rate falling from 2.3% in the 1970s to 2% in the years 1980-1992. Chetsanga reported that in the growing seasons for 1997-1998 US farmers planted 32.6 million ha maize and obtained a total production of 263 million t this equates to an average yield of 8.1 t ha −1 .…”

Section: Production Output/levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there are also many significant constraints that have to be addressed. Many African governments are sceptical about GM foods (Eicher et al, 2006). In 2002, Zambia rejected food aid from the USA as the grain was genetically modified and Angola requires food aid grain to be milled before it is distributed (Eicher et al, 2006).…”

Section: Constraints To Biotechnological Development In Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Impact of Genetically Modified Crops

Ferry¹,

Gatehouse²

2009

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This book, containing 20 chapters, addresses the major concerns of scientists, policy makers, environmental lobby groups and the general public regarding the controversial issue on environmental impact (e.g. on soil and water ecology and nontarget organisms) of transgenic crops, from an editorially neutral standpoint. While the main focus is on environmental impact, food safety issues for both humans and animals are also considered. Some chapters discuss issues on resistance management. The book concludes with a discussion on the future of agricultural biotechnology in the context of sustainability, natural resource management and future global population and food supply.

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“…In 2012, 20 developing countries grew 52% of the GM crops worldwide indicating that for some developing countries the adoption rate of GM crops is significantly higher as compared to their industrialized counterparts. While several African countries run research programs focusing on GM crops, in 2012 only 7 (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South-Africa, and Uganda) conducted confined field trials and only 4 countries on the African continent (Burkina Faso, Egypt, South Africa and Sudan) cultivate GM crops [2,[6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosafety capacity building: experiences and challenges of a distance learning approach

Mezzetti¹,

Sabbadini²,

Pertry³

et al. 2016

Acta Hortic.

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Biotechnology is revolutionizing industrial and agricultural practice as the number of commercial biotechnology products is increasing each year. Simultaneously, several regulatory approaches are put into place to allow technological advancement while preserving public health and the environment. Developing and/or emerging countries often face major barriers to access biotechnologies and biotechnology derived products as they frequently lack the institutional capacities and professional competence in exercising regulatory oversight. To address this need, intensive biosafety capacity building is required. Different training approaches can be used to train individuals in biosafety ranging from long-term leading to a postgraduate certificate or a Masters degree, to short term courses. In this paper, we discuss the applicability of a different approach to biosafety capacity building based on a distance e-learning system, the UNIDO e-Biosafety program that has been annually organized at the Marche Polytechnic University (MPU) in Italy and Ghent University (UGent) in Belgium since 2006. Even though there are some challenges, we can conclude based on our experience that distance learning in combination with on-campus tuition is amendable for biosafety capacity building.

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Crop biotechnology and the African farmer

Cited by 53 publications

References 28 publications

Genetically modified crops and small-scale farmers: main opportunities and challenges

Genetically modified crops and small-scale farmers: main opportunities and challenges

Environmental Impact of Genetically Modified Crops

Biosafety capacity building: experiences and challenges of a distance learning approach

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