The idea of solving hunger on the African continent with GM (genetically modified) crops is terribly flawed.

However, usually (and this article is no exception) a real analysis about the socio-economic reasons for hunger is totally absent.

There are so many things to say:

* Hunger is currently not a problem of production, but of *distribution and access*.

* Food security (there is enough food on the market) is not the same as food sovereignity (th provision of food is in the hands of local comminities, resulting in a resilient system).

* GM crops are developed mainly by profit-driven corporations. These corporations have neither an interest nor an incentive to help the poor. In the best case, GM crops are developed by public institutions, but also then ideology and institutions prevent real transdiscipliniary cooperation with small-scale farmers.

* Subsidized (publicly funded scientific innovation is also a subsidy!) industrial agriculture destroys soils, water, the climate and biodiversity. The social and environmental costs are then externalized to all of us. Small-scalle farmers, the backbone of food provision, especially for the rural poor in the global south (including themselves) get outcompeted and fall into poverty.

* GM crops are industrial hybrid crops. Maybe the researchers achieve to insert one gene to resolve a specific problem. But the crop will still require large inputs of synthetic fertilizer or pesticides. Additionally, until now, seeds from GM crops cannot be multiplied and resown by the farmers, increasing their dependency on companies, markets and fossil fuels.

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#AgroecologyNOW #Agroecology
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#Agriculture
#Hunger #GMO #GMCrops #BigAgri #Agribusiness

@TheConversationAfrica