Is GM farming feasible?
A debate on whether South African small-scale cotton farmers should opt for
genetically modified (GM) seeds continues with the release of a study on the
subject [earlier this year.]
Environmental action group Biowatch argued that GM technology was not
cost-effective for the small-scale farmer, weighed down by debt, and a raw deal
for exporting to western markets.
However, the findings in one of the first academic studies to map the growth
of GM farming in South Africa have pronounced it a success. The study,
comprising two papers, was prepared by researchers in the Department of
Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria.
One of the papers, "The Adoption and Impact of Agricultural
Biotechnology Innovation in South Africa", by Johann Kirsten and Marnus
Grouse, outlines the pattern of GM farming in the country.
The other, "BT Cotton in South Africa: Adoption and the Impact on Farm
Incomes amongst Small-scale and Large-scale Farmers", by Marnus Gouse,
Johann Kirsten and L Jenkins, studies the effect of GM policies on the
production of cotton.
South Africa is the only African country that has adopted GM crops for
commercial production. Besides GM cotton, genetically altered maize, soya and
oilseed rape are grown.
International bio-safety protocol requires that bio-safety legislation be in
place before GM crops can be planted in any country, and only South Africa and
Zimbabwe qualify in the continent.
The cotton study by the University of Pretoria researchers claims that the
percentage small-scale farmers growing GM cotton rose from seven percent in
1997/1998 to around 90 percent in the 2001/2002 season.
The authors of the paper report that of the 43 large-scale farmers
interviewed, 39 percent indicated that the most important benefit of GM cotton
was the saving on pesticides, with the second reason identified as the
"peace of mind" about bollworms, a generic name for the various kinds
of moth caterpillars that destroy cotton bolls.
The findings noted: "When asked to indicate all the benefits of
insect-resistant cotton, 77 percent of farmers indicated 'peace of mind', and 72
percent indicated 'better crop and risk management' as a benefit."
Koot Louw of Cotton South Africa, an association of the key players in the
cotton industry, confirmed the popularity of the GM variety of the crop, with 70
percent of the country's cotton production coming from genetically altered
seeds.
Biowatch's Elfrieda Pschorn-Strauss pointed out that bollworms were not the
only pests which attacked cotton. "Reduced pesticides expenses promised by
the GM crop also proves attractive to farmers," she explained. "But
little do they realise that they still have to spray pesticides to keep other
pests away."
Louw said most small-scale farmers did not bother spraying pesticides at all.
"Once they have planted the GM cotton crop, which is resistant to
bollworms, they just let the crop be." The saving on pesticides was
"quite huge."
But Biowatch said it could still cost the farmer up to R500 [US $69] per
hectare to spray pesticides.
According to the research paper, "when asked about the disadvantages of
GM cotton, the prominent answer was 'the cost of seed and the technology
fee'", which is the cost of the patent.
Louw said the GM seed was still cost-effective for the small-scale farmer, as
demonstrated by the fact that 3,000 subsistence farmers and some of the 1,000
commercial cotton farmers in South Africa opted for planting GM seeds.
Pschorn-Strauss said small-scale farmers, who were already caught in a debt
cycle as a result of recent recurrent droughts, paid exorbitant amounts in
technology fees for the GM seeds. Most of the small-scale farmers were not
well-educated and were allegedly misled by the seed companies.
Danie Olivier, the manager of Deltapine, a GM seed supplier, said small-scale
farmers on irrigated land had to pay a technology fee of R750 [US $104] on a 25
kg bag of ballgard seed (resistant to bollworm), plus R350 [US $49] for the
seed. The technology fee had been reduced to R350 per 25kg for dry-land
small-scale farmers.
"We are not forcing the farmers to buy GM seed - it is their choice. We
sell ordinary seed too," said Olivier. Ordinary seed costs half the price
of the GM variety, around R400 a 25 kg bag.
However small-scale farmers account for only 10 percent of the country's
annual cotton production, which was 17,000 tonnes of cotton lint for the
2002/2003 season.
Louw conceded that cotton production for export was not commercially viable.
"We cannot compete with the subsidised crop produced in the advanced
countries, which is why most farmers prefer to grow maize - which is a cash crop
in South Africa," he said.
South Africa, therefore, only managed to produce about 50 percent, "in a
good year", of its annual requirement of 70,000 tonnes of cotton lint. The
rest is imported from Zimbabwe and Zambia.
However, according to Louw, if it were not for the GM cotton seed, even fewer
farmers would be growing the crop. Irin
More information:
[This Item may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003]
www.irinnews.org
Public understanding of Biotechnology website www.pub.ac.za
|
