Uganda National Farmers Federation

There was a debate in three articles of the January 2009 issue of the New African (www.africasia.com) about the adoption of modern agricultural technologies in Africa including the growing of Genetically Modified (GM) crops as the solution to the continent’s hunger problem.

In one of them, Is GM food the future for Africa? Sir David King of Oxford University is quoted to have said: “What was demonstrated in India and China was that modern agricultural technologies can multiply crop production per hectare by 70 to 100 per cent.”

In the same article however, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, strongly supports organic farming as the way forward for the developing world and totally opposed to all environment-unfriendly farming technologies such as the growth of GM crops. His view is shared by the majority of NGOs linked to African agricultural development efforts.

Modern farming technologies are mostly about the use of machines such as tractors, and chemicals to control weeds or to boost soil fertility for large scale production of crops. Usually, the farmer operates on a wide expanse of land and generally applies such farming methods and technologies as those practiced in the industrialised world.

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