A gift of dependency? American GM corn is unloaded in hungry Malawai, leading to concern about the future.
From disease to civil strife, Sub-Saharan Africa has a host of troubles. But in the last five years, the problem of hunger also has come to the top of the list of woes. Developed countries have responded both bilaterally and multilaterally to help African farmers through policy interventions and humanitarian aid – though with debatable success. While grateful for the help, the countries find some of the solutions of dubious long-term value. And the US, in particular, has been blamed for using the situation to promote inappropriate agricultural policies through international institutions and to propagate genetically modified products.
In the UN Food and Agricultural Organization’s October 2004 assessment report, twenty-three countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region are listed as requiring emergency food intervention. Malawi stands out as a country that has been in dire straits for some time, with the situation worsening during the past three years. This small, impoverished, landlocked country of 12 million generally fed itself until the late 1990s. What is the real root cause of the drop in food production?
To access concessionary loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Malawi had to complete the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) from the late 1980s, a program replete with troublesome conditionalities. One of the conditions under SAP required full liberalization of the economy, the IMF’s prescription for improving economic growth; the actual results, however, were cuts in social services and the removal of all agricultural subsidies. A bag of fertilizer that cost farmers about US$5 in 1990 more than doubled its price by 1998, rendering it unaffordable for most Malawians, half of whom live on an income equivalent to less than a dollar a day.
In 2002, during the country’s worst food crisis, when hundreds of Malawians reportedly died from hunger and hunger-related diseases, the government revealed that the IMF had given inappropriate advice about maize reserves. A Reuters story reported that the Malawian President Bakili Muluzi “rebuked” the IMF, “blaming it for a biting food crisis and a reform agenda he said had failed to improve the lives of his people.” He went on to claim that “the IMF asked his government to sell maize from strategic reserves to enable the state food agency to meet obligations on a commercial loan.” The result was shortage of food for the people.
Despite these circumstances, most countries still look to the United States, as a world power, for solutions. The United States generously responded to the 2002 crisis by shipping tons of genetically modified maize to Malawi and most of Southern Africa. What was supposed to be a kind gesture, however, sparked a debate on genetic engineering. What seemed certain was that the United States wished to promote genetically modified products to Africa, a thing that worried countries like Malawi.
Considering that genetically modified (GM) products have higher yields than produce from normal hybrid seeds, one may ask why developing countries are worried. A farmer in Malawi does not buy seed; he saves seed from the previous harvest. With GM products such as those advertised by multinational biotechnology corporation Monsanto, he cannot save seed; he will have to buy them each year at higher prices. This farmer is also likely to face marketing problems since certain countries will not accept GM products. The EU just lifted the 6-year ban on sale of GM products within the member states earlier this year. But GM as a solution to food security problems among poor countries remains bleak.
Poor countries’ options for dealing with food crises on their own are narrowing. It is becoming clear that developed countries are increasingly fostering dependency, whether by influencing national policies that fail to benefit citizens or by controlling microeconomic processes through the heavy influence of multinational corporations. This reliance is only increasing with the farmers switching to GM products from the developed world.
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