Gates Foundation Gives $56 Million to Support AGRA’s PASS

The Gates Foundation gave another $56 million dollars to AGRA yesterday to support  AGRA’s Programme for Africa ‘s Seed Systems (PASS), which is focused on creating disease-resistant and higher-yielding seeds. PASS’s plans include creating 40 more private seed companies in addition to the 60 that were already created in the first stage of the program. They hope this will achieve yearly production of 200,000 metric tons of “improved seed” that will then be passed on to farmers . PASS also plans on educating more scientists on how to breed these seeds. The African Centre for Biosafety, and the Oakland Institute are particularly concerned that AGRA’s seed program is laying the foundation for the introduction of GM crops in Africa. Read more about AGRA’s newest plans here:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202280809.html


Bill Gates’ support of GM crops is wrong approach for Africa

AGRA Watch helped make this Op-Ed possible – One of our African colleagues, Glenn Ashton, became so incensed at Bill Gates’ continuing obtuseness (eg, his recent annual letter) that he worked with AW to produce an Op Ed which we were able to get placed in the Seattle Times. This is probably the first occasion in which the Times has published reasoned and sustained opposition to what Gates is doing in agriculture. That it comes from the pen of an African makes these words even more powerful!

Read the piece here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2017612869_guest28ashton.html


Food Sovereignty, not just Food Security

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) has released a document highlighting the merits of a Food Sovereignty focus when dealing with world hunger problems. It notes that economic policies developed by industrial agriculture solely focused on food security have, in fact, exacerbated the hunger problem through degradation of  land resources and destruction of biodiversity and pest resilience. Instead, the paper argues, there should be a focus on local, indigenous farmers, and less unnecessary trading of food internationally.  To learn more about the benefits of a global Food Sovereignty movement, and learn the Six Principles of Food Sovereignty, click here:

http://www.africanbiodiversity.org/system/files/images/AFSA%20Document.pdf

Kenyan Newspaper Presents Debate Regarding GMO Education to Youth

The debate over whether Kenya should be required to teach about GMOs in school to promote the technology continues. Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation, has published two articles supportive of GMOs as ‘news’–ie apparently objective–while opposition has remained confined to the Op-Ed section. The Daily Nation is the most influential paper in Kenya, and the largest in Eastern Africa.
The first news post entitled “Kenya: Teach about GMO in Schools, Say Educators” was published on Feb 5, and promotes the idea that teaching students about GMOs from a young age will clear up “misconceptions” held by those critical of the GMO movement.
A link to the text can be found here:

A counter argument was published on February 12 in the editorial section, and holds that is is dangerous to promote GMO technology with students, especially because the technology still isn’t fully understood by adults.

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Unfortunately, the very next day after the Op-Ed piece was published, another pro-GMO news article appeared in the paper:
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Jill Richardson chronicles her stay with AW partner G-BIACK

ImageAGRA-Watch ally Jill Richardson chronicles her stay with G-BIACK, the Grow Biointensive Center in Kenya, on her blog La VidaLocavore. The center is headed by Samuel Nderitu and his wife Peris, and won the 2011 Food Sovereignty Prize Honorable Mention at AW’s nomination.  It focuses on organic farming methods and women’s programs.

They have also started a few livestock programs designed to spread knowledge and ownership of certain key animals that are easy to raise and provide farmers with numerous benefits. To read about Jill’s experience at G-BIACK and the farming processes employed by the Center, access her online diary here:
Jill’s website is:
http://www.lavidalocavore.org
and includes many pictures of her travels and observations for those interested in food politics.

Patented GMO Seeds a Major threat to Food Sovereignty

Patented GMO seeds, which are being pushed by The Gates Foundation’s AGRA subsidiary, are a major assault on Africa’s seed sovereignty. They run against notions of sustainability since farmers are required to to buy them every year, and  they lead to a loss of genetic diversity because these seed systems are used in monocultures. In addition, the patenting of seeds means huge profits for Monsanto and other US biotechnology corporations as well as signifying a threat to agricultural democracy and food sovereignty.

Read more here:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/201224152439941847.html

Gates Foundation Newsletter Sparks Controversy

The media is continuing to pick up on the controversy created by the Foundation’s latest annual letter, specifically Bill Gates’ comments on GMOs. Gates explains again in his letter that a Green Revolution is the only way to combat starvation in Africa, and is “troubled” by the lack of investment in agricultural research.
 
Read the letter and more at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/01/24/bill-gates-next-target-revolutionize-farming/
More at:
http://publicola.com/2012/01/31/bill-gates-advocates-expanding-gmo-production/?utm_source=RSS+Feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=F 
 
 

Is Philanthropy the Enemy of Justice?

 

Philanthropists pushing GM crops in developing countries claim to be providing food security, but many of the local peoples these projects are intended to help want nothing to do with GM crops. Unfortunately, philanthropists are the ones with the money, so they are the ones who make the decisions. In this sense, philanthropy does not necessarily mean justice.

 

Read more here:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/27/philanthropy-enemy-of-justice

 


Gates defends focus on High-Tech Agriculture

We have been asked a million times why he comes down on the side of hi-tech–here’s his answer. AW has analyzed his fallacies.

Read more here:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/24/gates-defends-focus-on-high-tech-agriculture/#ixzz1kRaOeDKi


Land-grabbing continues to threaten local peoples and food security

Partner organization The Oakland Institute published a report in 2009 detailing what they describe as a “land rush,” or the fervent rush of private investors involved in land-grabbing in Africa. Investors from all over the world are lured to Africa by the promise of cheap and productive land with which they can grow food for export. All of this comes at the expense of the local people, many of which have been relocated to new villages with little to no resources available with which to grow food.

Read Oakland Institute’s report here:

http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/great-land-grab-rush-world%E2%80%99s-farmland-threatens-food-security-poor

A recent example of this behavior can be found in Ethiopia, where the government is currently leasing out 3.6 million hectares to foreign investors, and many indigenous people are being removed from their homes. While the Ethiopian government denies “forcing” anyone from their homes because the land being leased is “uninhabited,” investigations done by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) show that the current residents of the land never had a formal title, which allows the government to bypass laws that would protect these populations from relocation.

Read more on this here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16590416


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