By IPS Correspondents
BRUSSELS, Jun 12 2003 (IPS)

Prominent African writer and activist James Shikwati made a strong appeal at a forum in Brussels this week for introduction of genetically modified crops to feed the hungry.

Shikwati, who is director of the non-governmental organisation Inter-Region Economic Network (IREN) based in Kenya spoke at a meeting organised by TechCentral Station, a U.S. online journal on global public affairs.

TechCentral Station promotes free markets and use of technology, but acknowledges that such promotion raises important public issues. IREN campaigns for policies that would support development of Africa.

The Brussels meeting was addressed also by Chris Wilson, U.S. Trade Attaché to the EU (European Union). The campaigner from Africa was clearly putting forward a case that seemed to match U.S. interests in breaking down EU opposition to genetically modified (GM) foods.

Shikwati argued that Africa needs these crops. "Biotechnology would give African farmers the freedom to produce their own goods instead of begging donor countries," he said at the meeting Wednesday. "Africa needs this investment and wants to make use of the technology."

Shikwati urged the EU to drop its five-year moratorium on GM foods. "With insects destroying crops, Africans don’t have a choice that their crops live or die, but with GM crops this could change," he said. "We want to explore GM technology and believe it could tackle pests and save the starving."

The EU has maintained a moratorium on the commercial development of GM foods since 1999. This has delayed the approval of GM crops and, according to the U.S., forced African countries to refuse GM food aid.

Last year famine-stricken Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique turned down shipments of GM food from the U.S. because of health and environmental concerns. The countries were worried also that they could lose their export market in the EU if their crops were seen as contaminated by genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Shikwati acknowledged EU concerns that African farmers could become dependent on GM technology from the U.S., but insisted that such a situation was still better than dependency on food aid.

"Food aid from abroad makes production difficult, but with GMOs farmers could make a profit even if the seeds are expensive," he said.

Supporting Shikwati’s case for GMOs at the meeting, Wilson told EU officials present that a combination of biotechnology and economic policies could play a significant role in reducing hunger in Africa.

"The world is on the threshold of an agricultural revolution," Wilson said. "GMOs can reduce the cost of food production, help the environment, reduce pesticides and feed the starving."

The case for GM crops did not go unchallenged at the meeting. Alexander de Roo, vice-president of the Environment Committee at the European Parliament and member of the Green Party, said the U.S. was promoting GM foods for its own financial gain.

"It’s up to Africans if they want to buy GM food," he said. "I would advise them not to, but what I don’t understand is why there is so much pressure from the U.S."

GM crops were first commercially cultivated in the early 1990s. It was claimed they would increase resistance to pests and weed-killers, increase yields, cut prices and enhance the nutritional value of crops.

Cultivation has expanded rapidly since then, especially in the U.S., which now produces 68 percent of GM food, followed by Argentina with 23 percent. Canada produces 7 percent and China 1 percent. The U.S. grows biotech crops, mostly corn, over 96.3 million hectares.

But outside the U.S., and especially in Europe, GM foods have been criticised by consumers as unsafe, unnecessary and bad for the environment.

The GM debate has become a particularly sensitive issue between the EU and the U.S.

Last month U.S. President George Bush accused Europe of "impeding" U.S. efforts to fight famine in Africa because of "unfounded" fears over GM foods. The U.S. has taken its case to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which deals with trade rules between nations, to get the European Union to relax its restrictions.

The EU, however, denies claims that its reluctance to allow new GM foods is keeping developing countries away from these foods. Officials say they simply need more time to develop systems for tracing and labelling GM foods and feed.

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy was quoted by the U.S. Wall Street Journal last month as saying that "choices for developing countries should not mean ‘accept GM food or starve’."

Several consumer groups and civil society organisations say the U.S. is arguing the case for GM foods to promote its financial self-interest.

Juan Lopez of Friends of the Earth International, the world’s largest environment federation, told IPS that GM food cannot solve the food crisis in Africa. "GM crops aim to consolidate the big agribusiness control of a food chain," he said. "They would just force small farmers in developing countries out of business."

GM crops cannot solve the problem of hunger and food security in developing countries, he said, "since they are not the right response to the real causes of those problems, like debt, lack of infrastructure and Western subsidies."

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