Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 12 • 25th June 2004

African Ministers Voice Cautious Support for Biotech

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During the US-sponsored Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology, held from 21-23 June in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the Presidents of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Ghana expressed cautious support for biotechnology. “We cannot and must not wait on the sidelines of this global debate and ignore scientific and technological innovations that are crucial to progress… But our obligation to the people to provide safe food, means we must proceed with caution,” noted Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure. At the conference, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to share food technologies with the African Agriculture Technology Foundation, a public-private partnership. “This Memorandum of Understanding will identify technologies that can be adapted for use by African farmers,” Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman said. “The agreement will help African scientists to learn specific technologies developed by USDA scientists.” J. B. Penn, US Under-Secretary of agriculture for farm and foreign agricultural services noted that African ministers had become much better informed about biotechnology since they had attended a US-sponsored agricultural science and technology ministerial in Sacramento, California, last year.

Non-governmental organisations in West Africa took a more critical stance on the use of biotechnology, arguing that food shortages in Africa were caused mainly by poor distribution and lack of infrastructure, rather than a lack of food. In their statement, a group of concerned Ouagadougou-based organisations pointed to the potential side-effects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including the loss of seed diversity and the dependency on the GM crop. “We cannot in good conscience move forward without a clear understanding of its consequences for health of humans, animals and plant,” they noted. “Relying on genetically modified foods is only a short-term solution that will, in the long run, only breed dependence on multinational corporations.”

“USDA and African Agricultural Technology Foundation Sign Agreement to Share Technologies,” FAS RELEASE, 21 June 2004; “Burkina Faso: West African Leaders Give Cautious Thumbs Up to Biotech,” ALL AFRICA.COM, 23 June 2004; “Four African Presidents Support Biotech,” US Official Says,” US DOS WEBSITE, 21 June 2004; “Food Safety Key to Food Security, West Africa Says After US Makes GMO Pitch,” APF, 21 June 2004.