Biotech Salon | A place to discuss the science, technology, and politics of agricultural biotechnology
Description: The rest of the story on food, farming and biotechnology
As stories about GM crops in developing countries unfold, I continue to be struck by how very different each case is. Despite the desire for simple global narratives of success or failure, the crops differ, the transgenic traits differ, the problems to be solved differ, the cultures differ, and the issues differ. Science can publish papers on Bt cotton test plots in India with titles like “ Yield effects of genetically modified crops in developing countries ”, but those test plots don’t actually tell you a
For many years there has been publicity about Bt cotton growers in Burkina Faso, much of it listing the outstanding benefits across the board. But a few months ago, suddenly the news was “ Burkina Faso phasing out GMO cotton, citing poor quality. ” Cotton companies are even suing Monsanto .
I’m an outside observer here – my research on African agriculture was in Nigeria and it was before GM crops came along. But I know some scholars who follow these events closely. Brian Dowd-Uribe (International Studies, Univ San Francisco. ) and Matthew Schnurr (International Development Studies, Dalhousie Univ) have written extensively on GM crops in subSaharan Africa and have already published a short piece on the implications of what’s happening in Burkina. Now they have agreed to provide this guest bl
Biotech Salon | A place to discuss the science, technology, and politics of agricultural biotechnology