Africa does not need GMOs

Editor, RE: “Editorial: African govts should implement policies that increase food production” (The New Times, June 15). As you rightly put, Africa has all the ingredients (ample land, fertile soils, abundant rains and the most clement weather, etc) not only to be food secure, but to feed the world as well. The basics are there and we do not need to poison our environment with things like GMO to produce that food. What we need are better and more modern agricultural policies and practices, including effective farmer extension services, better land management practices, access to affordable farm credit, better harvesting and storage practices, micro agro processing factories to convert surplus farm produce to marketable products in situ, and improved infrastructure to serve rural food producing areas. Don’t kill our food capabilities with GMO poison that will also shut our agricultural products out of many markets where they have banned anything with GMOs. Plus you cannot be food-secure by handing control of your seeds to the likes of Monsanto, Du Pont or Bayer (notice all of them are chemical companies like Union Carbide of Bhopal infamy, not people you should be handing control of your food source to, despite what their public relations people, including in academia may be whispering in your ears). Mwene Kalinda

Opinions

Africa does not need GMOs