Forget trying to grow hybrid maize – Africa already has all the crops, storage systems and knowledge that it needs to grow itself out of poverty After working for many years for Professor Wangari Maathai, and then with the African Biodiversity Network, Kenyan ecologist Gathuru Mburu wanted to share his learnings with his own local community who […]
Ecological campaigner Million Belay talks about why protecting Ethiopia’s biodiversity is so important and why he opposes the intervention of philanthropists like Bill Gates ‘The children are told to appreciate the western media, and to aspire to be an American’ Ethiopia’s culture and forests are gradually being eroded. The younger generation is taught to admire […]
Last week we heard that Owen Paterson, the UK’s environment minister, is claiming that GM crops are necessary to help address hunger in developing countries, and that it would be immoral for Britain not to help developing countries to take up GM. Millions of small-scale farmers inAfrica would disagree. African farmers and civil society have repeatedly rejected GM crops, […]
Kenyan civil society groups and small-scale farmers are outraged at the arrival of 40,000 tonnes of South African genetically modified (GMO) maize into Kenya through the Port of Mombassa earlier this year. The Kenyan Biodiversity Coalition represents more than 65 civil society groups whose main objective is to ensure public awareness on issues concerning the […]
Kenya’s environmental and food security activists have called on the Government to shun genetically modified (GM) foods, and instead support organic agriculture practiced by most small-scale farmers. In June, the Government gave a go-ahead to the nation’s grain millers to import genetically modified maize from South Africa and Europe to ease the shortage of maize […]
AFRICA is not a place for GMOs, says African Biodiversity Network advocacy coordinator Anne Maina.Commenting on calls by Zambian stakeholders for government to open debate on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the country following Kenya’s introduction of GM maize, Maina said genetically engineered foods were not a solution to the food shortages and climate change […]
In 2010, the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition (KBioC) issued an alert over the importation of a consignment of 3.2 million bags of 100 per cent GMO maize from South Africa at a time when Kenya had a bumper harvest. The coalition raised several concerns which have never been answered to date. A key concern was why […]
The government says genetically modified (GMO) foods remain outlawed despite reports that a consignment of about 40,000 tonnes of South African maize produced through the technology was lying at Mombasa port. “We are aware that we have about 11,000 tonnes of contentious maize at the Port of Mombasa, but until scientific results are obtained we […]
Importation of genetically modified food to stabilise food prices in Kenya has revived an old debate on safety of the products, with lobbyists pitted against each other. Anne Maina of the African Bio-diversity Network says the introduction of patented seeds and related chemicals into Kenya’s farming systems threatens the country’s agricultural practices, its livelihoods, the […]
Newscast Media NAIROBI, Kenya — On Friday July 8, Kenya’s environmental and food security activists called on the government to recognize and support organic agriculture practiced by most small scale farmers to avoid imports of genetically modified (GM) foods. The Kenyan government in June gave a go-ahead to the nation’s grain millers to import genetically […]
Joining South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt, Kenya is now the fourth African country to allow importing of genetically modified foods. Kenya’s move towards GMOs comes as many countries across the continent are rallying against the risks genetically modified crops pose to the health of African people and its land. But, Kenyan officials and Monsanto, the biotech giant […]
