The "cow dung deception" against biotechnology in agriculture

by Tawanda Zidenga*

Modern agriculture has been marred by controversy, not only related to biotechnology, but also to chemicals and hybrid seeds coming out of the green revolution. These debates have stunned developers, scientists and engineers, especially those with a farming background. Among the major points of arguments related to modern agricultural systems is that they are not environmentally sustainable and are socially unacceptable.

The latter argument is justified by some need to "protect heritage" (which happens to have been changing for thousands of years). There have been arguments that the "good old days" when people used to fertilize their fields with cow dung should be the standard upon which we build. Radical groups have advocated a return to these systems, and a preservation of that status in areas where they are still practiced. There exists a fantasy, especially amongst the urban elite, that rural life is exceedingly wonderful, cheap and sustainable; that traditional methods were essentially error-free, sustainable and beneficial to all. This misguided fantasy culminates in what I will call "the cow dung deception," the endless attack by radical groups on modern technology in favor of a "good-old-days" that never was.

The logical absurdity of this reason is not its greatest fault. It is the desire to fight progress under the guise of precaution that threatens us today. Human beings are known for resisting change. We hold on to our past because it made us who we are. We have created museums and monuments to preserve part of our past which, even though it no longer has a place in the modern world.

Many of us are familiar with how computers were criticized, not only for "taking human jobs" (I'm serious!) but for alienating us from one another. Yet when you look at modern society today, you almost cannot understand a world without them.

In many societies cow dung was central to culture, as were the cows themselves. But the claim by some activists, that cow dung is the key to sustainable agriculture is nothing less than an act of social fraud, an attempt to convert communities into large museums where enviro-tourists can visit and marvel, then return to the comfort of their air-conditioned, high-energy consuming city dwellings (add to that the making of a good documentary for the Discovery Channel!)

Cow dung was part of a sustainable way of agriculture under a different set of circumstances. As were a number of methods, tools and systems that we have put behind in favor of more efficient, quicker options. There is a modern misconception that something that is natural is safe.

We have established industries and created jobs, based on attacking the global corporate system and its evils. We have countless NGOs in poor communities, promoting "sustainable development," yet decades after their initial presence, the communities remain poor and even more dependent. Insanity is when you do the same thing the same way over and over again, expecting different results.

We demonize profits everyday, failing to acknowledge in the very least, that most of the major breakthroughs we enjoy today came as a result of someone trying to make profit. We have brandished all modern technologies profit-driven, and therefore unsuitable for poor communities. We magnify the dangers of modern technologies, forgetting that there is an inherent danger in all systems. In most cases, we, the so-called educated elite, have taken to making decisions for these communities, deciding that they will do better with cow dung than with ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

The result is those communities still need food aid, still remain entrapped in a cycle of poverty while we experiment with them, guided by misguided dogma that never had a scientific basis. We have fought globalization, we have even formed Internet communities and web rings to fight globalization, in a classical contradiction of a globalized fight against globalization! We have given undue credence to demonstrators, we assume that anyone waving a placard must know what they are talking about. We have allowed fear mongers, intimidators and outright liars to perpetuate perhaps the greatest con of the century : the condemnation of biotechnology and the over blowing of the advantages of organic food.

What I find troubling is a cult-like approach on an age-old system, a desperate attempt to use an age-old human friend, cow dung, to fight technology, denying it to the poor who could use it. Is it not troubling when a topless placard -waving fanatic somewhere in California decides to sing about cow dung? But the power and unquestioned authority that the environmental movement has gained over the years is influencing policy in developing countries; defensive policy that undermines research capacity and widens the gap between rich and poor countries.

*Graduate student from Zimbabwe at the Ohio State University, USA

Africa Biotech