NGO blasts plan as 'dubious fix'   
Lucky Biyase
Business Report, March 19 2010
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=561&fArticleId=5396436

Controversy is brewing around an alliance that says it hopes to enhance food security in sub-Saharan Africa by developing new maize varieties that would suit smallholder farmers that have limited access to fertiliser.

The collaboration, known as Improved Maize for African Soils (Imas), which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, came under fire from the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), an NGO based in Johannesburg.

ACB director Mariam Mayet said projects such as this one were dubious as they involved multinational firms that held patents to genes of interest.

"Instead of the Bill and Melinda Gates supporting dubious technological fixes, support should be given to agro-ecological approaches that support sustainable agricultural systems addressing inequalities in food supplies, distribution and access," she said.

Imas plans to develop maize varieties that use nitrogen more efficiently, helping African farmers who cannot afford expensive fertilisers.

Carlman Moyo, the regional director for DuPont sub Saharan Africa, said South Africa, like many other sub-Saharan African countries, should optimise the use of its soil.

However, Mayet said this project appeared once again to be a top-down project where a few researchers decided on the fate of farming in Africa and made choices for farmers.

"It cannot be emphasised enough that farmers need to have strong voice in the development of sustainable agriculture, using their traditional knowledge and seed systems to maintain biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods and environmental sustainability for current and future generations."

Mayet came to the fore in 2007 when US multinational Monsanto had given three varieties of genetically modified maize to South African farmers that reportedly failed. The company claimed that less than 25 percent of the seeds were susceptible to the problem and the failure was caused by under-fertilisation.

Mayet dismissed the company's statements, explaining that farms were witnessing rates of failing crops of up to 80 percent. She also dismissed claims by Monsanto that the failure had resulted from a mistake in the laboratory, saying she suspected that they were due to genetically modified food technology failures.