Uncertainty and apprehension often afford opportunity to the cunning. This is certainly the case with climate change. The multinational seed and agrochemical industry see climate change as a means by which to further penetrate African agricultural markets by rhetorically positioning itself, even if implausibly, as having the solution to widespread climate concerns.
Their so-called “final solution” to deal with the impact of climate change on African agriculture depends on mass adoption of GM seeds and chemically intensive agricultural practices. This model poses serious biosafety risks and demands the surrender of Africa’s food sovereignty to foreign corporations and the widespread acceptance of patents on life in Africa. Despite its obvious pitfalls, this model is being aggressively promoted by multinationals, private philanthropy and some African national agricultural research programmes, often funded by the first two.
The money and public relations forces backing the seed giants threaten to drown out other voices and other possibilities for African agriculture. In this briefing, we expose the forces behind ‘climate ready’ crops, including the central role played by gene giant Monsanto and provide data on patents on climate genes in respect to key African staple and other food crops. September 2009
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