Nairobi - African farmers can uproot themselves from poverty
without genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but rather through
greater access to good seeds and economic markets, Kofi Annan, the
new head of an agricultural alliance for Africa, said Monday.
In his first public appearance as chairman of the Alliance for a
Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Annan ruled out the use of GMOs in
fighting poverty amongst small-scale farmers on the world's poorest
continent, opting instead for better access to seeds and markets and
smarter government policies.
'AGRA is not using GMOs. We will be using traditional methods for
improving crop resistance and productivity and we will continue to do
so,' said Annan, who was appointed chair of the group last month
after completing a decade-long post as the United Nations secretary
general in January.
Some scientists say GMOs could safeguard African crops, which
often fail because of poor soil or wildly fluctuating weather
patterns like droughts followed by floods, but AGRA said it
disagrees.
'Conventional methods of farming have not yet been applied to the
fullest extent in Africa. Simply working with conventional breeding,
we can do a lot,' said Joseph De Vries, programme director with AGRA.
After visiting farmers in western Kenya, one of the country's
poorest areas, Annan said AGRA would push reliable seeds and
fertilizers to spur an African green revolution, based on successful
models in Asia and Latin America, and would seek to open up domestic,
intra-African and international markets for farmers to become
self-sufficient.
'As we speak millions of Africans are being fed by food aid. This
is not sustainable,' he said.
Over the next four years, the AGRA initiative is set to focus on
agricultural issues such as seed and crop production, water
management, fertilizers and the sale of produce, particularly as it
affects small farmers.
It was established as a public charity aimed at reducing hunger
and poverty through a 150 million dollar grant from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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