News brief

GM crops in EU?

Genetically modified crops could be cleared for sowing in UK this spring, despite widespread opposition in the country. The Government's environment advisers are supporting the growing of GM herbicide-resistant maize and they give qualified support to herbicide-resistant oilseed rape and sugar beet, even though GM rape and beet have been found to endanger birds, butterflies and other beneficial insects. Three years of trials have shown that GM maize is less damaging to biodiversity than conventional maize, mainly because of the widespread use of the herbicide atrazine with conventional maize; but a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) pointed out that since atrazine is due to be banned in the EU it would be premature to permit GM maize to be grown.

Meanwhile, one variety of GM oilseed rape could be prohibited from cultivation in Europe. The Biosafety Advisory Council of Belgium believes that one herbicide-resistant rape, produced by Bayer Cropscience, could pose environmental risks. A negative decision by the Belgian parliament would be binding on other EU members.

Sweet prospects turn sour

A promising new crop in Ghana, with export potential, could be stillborn because of patent claims on genes and genetic engineering. The potential new crop is Katemfe, an indigenous shrub, which is a source of the natural sweetener thaumatin. Non-sugar sweeteners are now a multi-billion dollar industry, and demand continues to grow. Ghana had plans to benefit by growing katemfe as an agro-forestry crop and building a processing plant to extract thaumatin. However, plans are stalled by patents filed in the United States, where researchers from the University of California and Lucky Biotech Corporation may have enforceable patents on all transgenic fruits, seeds and vegetables responsible for producing thaumatin. It is also reported that the multinational food giant, Unilever, has successfully inserted thaumatin-producing genes into bacteria, which could provide a very low-cost alternative source of thaumatin.

According to GRAIN (Genetic Resources Action International), thaumatin production based on genetically manipulated bacteria would undermine any conventional production in Ghana. However, the Ghanaians and their German business partners hope that they may be able to develop a niche market for a 'naturally' produced sweetener based on their conventionally grown katemfe, and that this will also benefit many thousands of growers in Ghana.

For further information see AFROL news (www.afrol.com/prueba/printable_article/10706)

Failure with GM sweet potatoes

A project to develop a genetically modified sweet potato with resistance to a damaging virus, appears to have failed. After an investment of US$ 6 million by Monsanto, World Bank and US government, three years of field trials by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) have shown that the GM plants were as vulnerable to the virus as conventional varieties, and that their yield could be lower. In contrast, conventional breeding in Uganda has produced a high-yielding and disease-resistant sweet potato more quickly and at less cost.

Veterinary drug fatal to vultures

The cause of the alarming and mysterious decline of griffon vultures in India is almost certainly due to them consuming carcasses of livestock which have been treated with the pain-killing drug diclofenac. Diclofenac is a low-cost drug, prescribed widely for lameness and other injuries of cattle and buffaloes. If these animals die subsequently, the carcasses attract many vultures, which historically have acted as scavengers and rapidly disposed of carcasses, which would otherwise be a public health hazard. With the decline of vultures, estimated by the UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds as 30 per cent per year in recent years, these once ubiquitous scavengers have disappeared in places, leaving carcasses to putrefy and attract often rabid dogs. The scientists who made the discovery are seeking a ban on the use of diclofenac in the sub-continent.

For further information see www.birdlife.net

Building on past success - Uganda

Farmers in northern Uganda are to be assisted in growing and marketing their produce more profitably. The region grows coffee, cotton and sesame but has suffered from 17 years of war, which has left the people impoverished and trailing the rest of the country in development. USAID is providing $22m to train farmers in modern methods of production of non-traditional cash crops including flowers, vanilla, and banana, as well as traditional crops. USAID hopes that support can be extended to new areas including, post-harvest techniques to enhance the quality of produce at point of sale, exploiting biotechnology and forming and managing producer organisations.

The project is to be known as the Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Programme (APEAP), and will succeed the successful project, Investment in Developing Export Agriculture (IDEA), which was active in other parts of Uganda but ended last year. IDEA funded the training of growers of flowers, vanilla and cocoa, and found international markets for the produce (see also Developments 03-5 "Sweet smell of Vanilla" and News 01-4 "Stirring up Cocoa in Uganda). APEAP hopes to reach and benefit 500,000 smallholder coffee farmers, 200,000 cotton growers, 200,000 banana producers and 200,000 grain growers. "We want farmers to treat farming as a business," said Clive Drew of USAID, who is overseeing APEAP.

Salvaging coffee - Nicaragua

Tumbling coffee prices have hit many producer countries, not least Nicaragua, where coffee has accounted for up to 30 percent of agricultural sector GDP, half of agricultural earnings, and 25 percent of total exports. In 2003 alone, coffee's contribution to national exports more than halved and employment, income and food security have all been prejudiced. To prevent food shortages among the 3000 worst-affected coffee producing families, FAO is to work with the Nicaraguan Government to develop an income-generating programme to improve and diversify coffee production. Nicaragua grows Arabica coffee but the poorer types and grades produced have to compete with much lower priced Robusta, produced in very large quantity and at low cost by countries such as Brazil and Vietnam. To compete, Nicaraguan farmers will have to improve their coffee type and the quality of washed beans; they will also need to spread their risks by growing alternative or complementary crops, including black beans, for which there is increasing demand throughout Latin America.

FAO will initially distribute 110,000 kilos of black bean seeds, 270,000 kilos of fertilizer and 9,000 hand tools to the 3000 most-needy families. It is hoped that each of these farmers can plant about one hectare of beans for their own consumption and for sale. (See also Developments: Coffee - it's the marketing that counts).

Opportunity missed for diversification

Herbal crops, supplying the booming demand for herbal medicines, have been potential new alternatives for farmers seeking to diversify from dependence on low-priced, long-established commodities. But few herbal crops have been cultivated; instead, the market has been supplied from wild stands, many of which are now so severely over-exploited that up to one-fifth of species used in herbal medicine could rapidly disappear. A plant specialist of WWF has made a study, (published in Biodiversity and Conservation), which reveals that the global market for herbal medicines in North America and Europe has been expanding by some 10 per cent a year for the last decade and the conservation group, Plantlife, accuses the herbal medicine industry of failing to ensure sustainability of supplies by cultivating the plants that they need.

For instance, the market for the bark of Prunus africana, used for treatment of enlarged prostate, has collapsed because too much bark was taken and trees subsequently died (see Prunus africana - stripping away an essential resource ) . Two other species under threat are Nothapodytes foetida from India and Sri Lanka, used for anti-cancer drugs, and Fritillaria cirrhosa from China, used for respiratory infections. Many, if not all of the 50,000 medicinal plants in use today, could be cultivated, providing an opportunity for some of the rural poor, who are currently driven by their poverty to stripping plant populations in the wild. (See also 'Sustaining Albania's wild herb exports' and 'Making too much from medicinals?') .

Foot and Mouth - Uganda...

Reports indicate that as many as one-third of all cattle in 16 districts in Uganda have foot and mouth disease, and that the disease could spread unless cattle are vaccinated. The situation has been made worse by non-availability of vaccines, due to a complicated purchasing procedure requiring that vaccines be bought in bulk: whereas manufacturers expect orders for a minimum of 100,000 doses, the Ugandan authorities had only ordered 50,000 doses. The Director of Animal Research has said that about US$ 32,300 had been spent to-date on vaccines, enough for only 30,000 doses. Further shortage was caused when a batch of vaccines from South Africa was withdrawn because of lack of potency.

...and Zimbabwe

Fresh outbreaks of FMD are also reported from Zimbabwe, where the veterinary services are struggling to control the disease in the prime cattle-producing areas of Matabeleland South, Midlands, and Lowveld, including areas very close to the border with South Africa. Meanwhile, control efforts are being hampered by the widespread movement of livestock as a consequence both of the Zimbabwe Government's resettlement programme, and the theft of boundary fences by settlers, which is allowing uncontrolled movement of wild animals into farmed areas. Exports of Zimbabwe beef to the EU, worth US$36 million annually, and to Congo, Libya and Malaysia, are at risk due to the continuing outbreak.

Drought disaster for South Africa

The worst drought in recent decades has left some 15 million South Africans facing long-term food shortage. Six of South Africa's nine provinces have been declared disaster areas as water levels in reservoirs and dams are down to about 20 per cent, and water tables in many regions have fallen so low that boreholes are having to be deepened. Farmers caught pumping water for irrigation are liable to 5000 rand fines, while the government is spending millions of rand on drilling new and deepening existing boreholes. The crisis is the result of only 30 per cent of normal rainfall during October-December, when heavy rain is usual.

In many parts of the country fields are empty because, where farmers did sow, seedlings died in the arid heat. In addition, lack of grazing has led to 50,000 cattle being slaughtered. Commercial and subsistence farmers face ruin if banks foreclose on loans and mortgages. Grain prices will inevitably rise, also affecting South Africa's neighbours such as Lesotho and Swaziland, where markets are linked to the market in South Africa.

Alternatives for poppies?

FAO hopes to provide opium poppy growers in Afghanistan with alternative crops, but admits that there is no obvious alternative which could provide poppy growers with equally good returns. Afghanistan is now the world's largest opium producer. With growers getting an average price of US$283 per kg for their raw opium; on yield of up to 40kg/ha, the poppy is far more profitable than any other crop. Generating approximately US$3,900 per opium-growing family, there is no comparison with the average national wage of US$2 per day.

Undaunted, FAO is seeking to raise US$25.5 million from donors to finance agricultural diversification and development projects over the next five years in four main poppy producing provinces, targeting 1.5 million people. These will aim to rehabilitate agricultural infrastructure, including irrigation, and boost horticulture, livestock and cash crops. "Rural poverty and the lack of income are the main reasons why farmers produce opium," says Angelika Schukler of FAO. However, once into opium, farmers may view any alternative as a sure route back to poverty, especially as poppy growers have access to something else that the majority of farmers lack, which is credit. "Cultivating poppy means that farmers have a relatively secure cash income," says Schuckler, but she believes that the fight against opium production in Afghanistan can be won.

Breeding better bees

Among the smallest of agricultural animals bees are the chief insect pollinator of nearly 100 crops, including many fruits, nuts, beans and clovers. Yet relatively little has been done in the past to improve disease resistance and other traits to improve productivity. Breeding a better honey bee is now on the agenda for the USDA's Agricultural Service, who are using recently created genomic data in their quest for useful traits, including disease resistance. Determining the position and order of genes residing on the insect's DNA--about one tenth the size of the human genome--provides bee researchers with a shortcut to traits that can otherwise be difficult to identify. Other possible avenues include identifying genes to expedite bee breeding efforts, preserving honey bee germplasm and fine-tuning the honey bee's nutrition and pollination effectiveness through genome-driven studies of the bee's sense of smell.

New commitment to agriculture

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) is to provide a additional £30 million to the CGIAR over the next three years. DFID is also committing £5 million over three years to the new African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), which has been founded to deliver affordable technology to African farmers. This is part of the UK's commitment in the G8 Africa Action Plan to improve African access to agricultural technology. These new commitments by DFID form part of a new policy paper, "Agriculture and Poverty Reduction: Unlocking the Potential" available at www.dfid.gov.uk.

GM cotton for West Africa

A report by GRAIN, an international NGO, shows that three major agrochemical companies-Monsanto, Syngenta and Dow AgroSciences-supported by USAID are finalising plans with the Malian government. "Bt cotton on the doorstep of West Africa" says that plans are well advanced with the Malian government to convert Mali's cotton production to transgenic varieties over the next five years. Yet, GRAIN claims, Malian farmers and public are unaware of this. The new technology will offer nothing to farmers except greater dependence on foreign companies, GRAIN claims. Better and more appropriate would be support for pesticide reduction programmes that have already proved successful.

www.grain.org/publications/btcotton.cfm.

1^st March 2004