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MISGUIDED PHILANTHROPY CANNOT FEED AFRICA
Anuradha Mittal
MARCH 2009 (IPS) - The biotech industry is using the increase in global hunger as a tool to win support for GM
crops, writes Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute and the editor of
Voices from Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak out Against the New Green
Revolution.
In this analysis, Mittal writes that promotional campaigns for technological solutions to
hunger regularly feature a handful of African spokespeople that drown out the genuine
voices of farmers, researchers, and civil society groups and the fact that there is
widespread opposition to genetic engineering in Africa.
In its enthusiasm to help Africa feed itself with a technology package involving the use of
chemical inputs and genetically-modified seeds, the Gates Foundation has neglected to
consult with the African farmers and communities they purport to help. The executive
summary of a confidential Gates Foundation report proposes moving people out of the
agricultural sector without specifying or addressing where or how this new "land mobile"
population is to be rehabilitated or reemployed.
//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND,
POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM// (END/2009)
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