Implications of Genetically Modified Food Technology Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa

Implications of Genetically Modified Food Technology Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Kym Anderson
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

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The first generation of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties sought to increase farmer profitability through cost reductions or higher yields. The next generation of GM food research is focusing also on breeding for attributes of interest to consumers, beginning with "golden rice," which has been genetically engineered to contain a higher level of vitamin A and thereby boost the health of unskilled laborers in developing countries. The authors analyze empirically the potential economic effects of adopting both types of innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). They do so using the global economy-wide computable general equilibrium model known as GTAP. The results suggest that the welfare gains are potentially very large, especially from nutritionally enhanced GM wheat and rice, and that-contrary to the claims of numerous interests-those estimated benefits are diminished only slightly by the presence of the European Union's current barriers to imports of GM foods. In particular, if SSA countries impose bans on GM crop imports in an attempt to maintain access to EU markets for non-GM products, the loss to domestic consumers due to that protectionism boost to SSA farmers is far more than the small economic gain for these farmers from greater market access to the EU.

Implications of Genetically Modified Food Technology Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa

Implications of Genetically Modified Food Technology Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Kym Anderson
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2004
Genre: Africa, Sub-Saharan
ISBN:

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Abstract: "The first generation of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties sought to increase farmer profitability through cost reductions or higher yields. The next generation of GM food research is focusing also on breeding for attributes of interest to consumers, beginning with golden rice, which has been genetically engineered to contain a higher level of vitamin A and thereby boost the health of unskilled laborers in developing countries. Anderson and Jackson analyze empirically the potential economic effects of adopting both types of innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). They do so using the global economywide computable general equilibrium model known as GTAP. The results suggest that the welfare gains are potentially very large, especially from nutritionally enhanced GM wheat and rice, and that contrary to the claims of numerous interests those estimated benefits are diminished only slightly by the presence of the European Union's current barriers to imports of GM foods. In particular, if SSA countries impose bans on GM crop imports in an attempt to maintain access to EU markets for non-GM products, the loss to domestic consumers due to that protectionism boost to SSA farmers is far more than the small economic gain for these farmers from greater market access to the EU. This paper a product of the Trade Team, Development Research Group is part of a larger effort in the group to better understand the contributions of both new technologies and discriminatory trade policies to economic welfare of different groups in developing countries"--World Bank web site.

Some Implications of GM Food Technology Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa

Some Implications of GM Food Technology Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Kym Anderson
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

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The first generation of genetically modified (GM) crop varieties sought to increase farmer profitability through cost reductions or higher yields. The next generation of GM food research is focusing also on breeding for attributes of interest to consumers, beginning with `golden rice`, which has been genetically engineered to contain a higher level of vitamin A and thereby boost the health of unskilled labourers in developing countries. This paper analyses empirically the potential economic effects of adopting both types of innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It does so using the global economy-wide computable general equilibrium model known as GTAP. The results suggest the welfare gains are potentially very large, especially from golden rice and that-contrary to the claims of numerous interests-those estimated benefits are diminished only slightly by the presence of the European Union`s current barriers to imports of GM foods. In particular, if SSA countries impose bans on GM crop imports in an attempt to maintain access to EU markets for non-GM products, the loss to domestic consumers due to that protectionism boost to SSA farmers is far more than the small gain in terms of greater market access to the EU.

Genetically modified crops in Africa

Genetically modified crops in Africa
Author: Falck-Zepeda, José Benjamin
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2013-10-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0896297950

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A variable climate, political instability, and other constraints have limited agricultural development in African countries south of the Sahara. Genetically modified (GM) crops are one tool for enhancing agricultural productivity and food security despite such constraints. Genetically Modified Crops in Africa: Economic and Policy Lessons from Countries South of the Sahara investigates how this tool might be effectively used by evaluating the benefits, costs, and risks for African countries of adopting GM crops. The authors gather together studies on GM crops’ economic effects and impact on trade, how consumers view such crops, and other issues. They find that GM crops have had, on average, a positive economic effect in the nations where they were used and identify future steps for enhancing GM crop adoption’s positive effects. Promising policy initiatives include making biosafety regulations that do not make GM crop development prohibitively expensive, fostering intraregional trade in GM crops, and providing more and better information about GM crops to consumers who might currently be skeptical of them. These and other findings in Genetically Modified Crops in Africa indicate ways biotechnology can contribute to economic development in Africa south of the Sahara.

Trade and Tribulations

Trade and Tribulations
Author: John Komen
Publisher: Center For Strategic & International Studies
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2013-05-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442224762

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Agricultural biotechnology holds great promise in contributing to Africa’s socioeconomic development. This is confirmed by a growing body of literature analyzing the positive economic effects at the farm level, and also for a growing number of farmers in Africa. However, with the exception of Burkina Faso, Egypt, and South Africa, the African countries have been slow adopters of biotechnology crops for cultivation. Trade concerns are often cited in sub-Saharan Africa as a reason for taking a precautionary approach to genetically modified (GM) crop adoption, which may result in forgone benefits for farmers and society at large and have a negative impact on a country’s food security situation. This study aims to evaluate the barriers that the adoption of GM crops by the East African countries poses for their trade with neighboring countries, with their other trade partners in Africa, and with their international trade partners. It is based on a literature review of recent studies analyzing the actual and potential trade implications of adopting GM crops, with a particular focus on the East African countries. This literature review is complemented by an analysis of recent agricultural trade statistics. In addition, the perspectives of key stakeholders and policymakers in East Africa have been included vis-à-vis the trade implications of adopting GM crops.

Biotechnology Policy in Africa

Biotechnology Policy in Africa
Author: Norman Clark
Publisher:
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2007
Genre: Agricultural biotechnology
ISBN:

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GM Food Crop Technology

GM Food Crop Technology
Author: Kym Anderson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 29
Release: 2004
Genre: Agricultural biotechnology
ISBN:

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Africa's Gene Revolution

Africa's Gene Revolution
Author: Matthew A. Schnurr
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2019-11-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0228000459

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As development donors invest hundreds of millions of dollars into improved crops designed to alleviate poverty and hunger, Africa has emerged as the final frontier in the global debate over agricultural biotechnology. The first data-driven assessment of the ecological, social, and political factors that shape our understanding of genetic modification, Africa's Gene Revolution surveys twenty years of efforts to use genomics-based breeding to enhance yields and livelihoods for African farmers. Matthew Schnurr considers the full range of biotechnologies currently in commercial use and those in development - including hybrids, marker-assisted breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering. Drawing on interviews with biotechnology experts alongside research conducted with more than two hundred farmers across eastern, western, and southern Africa, Schnurr reveals a profound incongruity between the optimistic rhetoric that accompanies genetic modification technology and the realities of the smallholder farmers who are its intended beneficiaries. Through the lens of political ecology, this book demonstrates that the current emphasis on improved seeds discounts the geographic, social, ecological, and economic contexts in which the producers of these crops operate. Bringing the voices of farmers to the foreground of this polarizing debate, Africa's Gene Revolution contends that meaningful change will come from a reconfiguration not only of the plant's genome, but of the entire agricultural system.

GM agricultural technologies for Africa

GM agricultural technologies for Africa
Author: Chambers, Judith A.
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2014-09-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

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The African Development Bank (AfDB), in commissioning this report to be prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), highlighted the need for a comprehensive, evidenced-based review of agricultural biotechnology in order to better understand its current status, issues, constraints, and opportunities for Africa. Agricultural biotechnology comprises several scientific techniques (genetic engineering, molecular marker-assisted breeding, the use of molecular diagnostics and vaccines, and tissue cul­ture) that are used to improve plants, animals, and microorganisms. However, in prepar­ing this desktop analysis, IFPRI has focused on genetic modification (GM) technologies in particular and on the agricultural context in which they are being applied, because GM technologies are at the center of the controversy about biotechnology’s role in Africa. In addition, because we have attempted to focus our review on peer-reviewed evidence and documented examples, the preponderance of data presented in the report is focused on genetically modified (also abbreviated GM) crops in use and under development, although we recognize the potential of the technology for livestock, fisheries, and forestry.