Africa must be wary of GM technology

The era of genetically manipulated foods is here with us. Africa and the Third World must wake up to this realization. Within the decade, there has been an avalanche of agro biotechnology companies spreading their wings to the developing world, especially in Africa, to continue their genetic engineering ambitions unhindered by public outcry and law suits, as is the case in the developed world, especially in the United States and Europe.

The silence regarding these practices in Africa and the Third World has been largely attributed to ignorance and lack of adequate information about the consequences of their adoption by the regions' populace.

The main target of these companies in Africa and the Third World has been the genetically superior traditional crops grown and consumed by the majority of the regions’ dwellers. Luminary scholars such as Kenya’s Professor Mary Abukutsa-Onyango, have expressed their objections to the manipulation of the gene pool of these crops for the purposes of patenting and engineering.

Professor Abukutsa-Onyango, the holder of a PhD from the University of London, is herself a globally respected researcher in traditional African crops and has over the years been working tirelessly to see that the preservation of these crops’ gene pool is properly handled for a more sustainable current and future food security within the region. In a tête-à-tête with the writer, she confirmed that the future food security prospects of Africa and the Third World lie in their cultivation and preservation of their traditional food crops, not in the mass and unregulated adoption of temperate food crops, most of which are generally genetically and nutritionally inferior and cannot therefore grow and produce well in the developing world.

Even as genetically modified foods find their way into Africa and the rest of the developing world, many salient issues dealing with the bioethical, medical as well as socio-economic aspects of the introduction of the crops have been wantonly ignored and still remain unaddressed to date. These compounded by the fact that most of these multinational companies fighting for the promotion of GM foods in the Third World are economically powerful and influential, only leaves the African plight appearing helpless and dragged to the dogs of socio-economic exploitation.

Fact is, genetically modified foods are engineered such that they possess what is known as the chain termination sequence. Pioneered by a British Biochemist, Fredrick Sanger, the process (also called the Sanger or the dideoxy process) manipulates the plants’ genetic structure such that it cannot produce a viable offspring. This means that after the first harvest, a farmer has to go back to the seed vendor and buy a fresh supply of seeds from the patent holding company for planting since the first produce can only be consumed and not be successfully re-grown. This therefore creates a complete dependence on the companies for the continuous supply of seeds.

Similarly, the application of the chain tracer DNA technology ensures that the farmer has to go to the same companies for the supply of chemical hormones for use in triggering such crop growth stages as fruiting, seeding among others. This would also perpetuate the dependence of the African and Third World farmers on the monopolizing companies. The loss of self-sustainability in food production in these countries would thus be of catastrophic consequences. Many of the already economically subjugated African and Third World countries will therefore be fully economically overrun and enslaved to the whims of other bio-technologically superior ones. By genetically engineering crops mostly produced in Africa and the developing world and therefore easing their production in the laboratory without the need for farm cultivations, the survival of the African farmers is threatened as they will definitely lose the international markets for their products effectively making them and their countries poorer.

There have been justified outcries from several quarters in the globe with each voicing their concerns as well as support for this technology.

Several deaths from the consumption of genetically modified foods have been recorded worldwide. Many skeptics have even related the recent Kenyan deaths apparently after the consumption of maize, to genetically modified maize and not the parsing of aflatoxins. This still opens a Pandora’s box of accusations and counter-accusations.

Fears too have been expressed to the effect that the genetic engineering process done on microbes such as viruses, fungi and bacteria could lead to the production of more virulent forms of the pathogens, which may cause devastating health and environmental effects due to lack of moderation and control procedures. The possible vertical or horizontal transfer of pathogenicity and virulence brought about by genetically modified DNA between microbes and even to animals and humans also further begs the question as to the safety of the genetically manipulated organisms. This can fuel the spread of deadly diseases thereby endangering the life of man and animals. The process has also been linked to the formation of reactive forms of viruses, which have the capacity to reactivate dormant viruses and also lead to the formation of new forms of viruses that are fast multiplying and more lethal.


The companies’ concept of promoting the cultivation of only a single crop also portends a problem for African farmers. Many of them are subsistence-oriented and have to intercrop their farms as a strategy for their economic survival. Monoculture would therefore increase food insecurity and thus poverty in the case of a single crop’s poor performance. This indeed is a recipe for mass impoverishment in a continent already ravaged by the adoption of irrelevant and externally imposed policies.

Supporters of genetically modified foods contend the technology will improve the food security by alleviating hunger and poverty in the developing world and in particular Africa. This has not yet been proven and does not warrant the unregulated mass entrance of GM foods into Africa and the developing world as is currently happening.

The fact that there is never any packaging indication or labelling of the foods and their ingredients further complicates the scenario, as many tend to consume them without really knowing.

While the bioengineering of genes to help in tackling various problems facing humanity such as the currently incurable and debilitating diseases appears noble, there is need for a clear and elaborate vetting system with respect to the proliferation of genetically engineered crops into Africa. This would take to task those companies bent on taking Africa and the Third World for an economic ride and prevent several unethical and trialistic vendetta from being carried out on the generally poor and mostly uninformed people. Only the tried and successfully tested aspects of bioengineering must be implemented.

Only then will the expected gains be of substance to the region’s population. Otherwise, the blind adoption of this mostly trial-based technology in Africa and the developing world will be an economic disaster in the making. It will be a permanent and perpetual sale of economic sovereignty and loss of the vitally sought food security and in effect the complete collapse of any proper development prospects in these developing parts of the globe.

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