Biosafety of GM Crops in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania
Biosafety of GM Crops in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania

Author: Judith A. Chambers

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-12-11

Total Pages: 41

ISBN-13: 1442228067

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This report outlines the status of biotechnology regulatory structures in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, with a focus on regulation of genetically modified (GM) crops. Effective regulatory structures are important for the approval and use of agricultural technology. As technologies become more sophisticated, so too must regulatory structures and risk assessment frameworks. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the biotechnology regulatory structures in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; outlines the current status of each country’s biotechnology regulatory structures; and evaluates to what extent the status of each of these countries’ regulatory structures permit and/or impede GM adoption. Finally, the paper examines potential areas for regulatory harmonization between these countries at a regional level.

Africa's Gene Revolution
Africa's Gene Revolution

Author: Matthew A. Schnurr

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2019-11-07

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0228000459

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As development donors invest hundreds of millions of dollars into improved crops designed to alleviate poverty and hunger, Africa has emerged as the final frontier in the global debate over agricultural biotechnology. The first data-driven assessment of the ecological, social, and political factors that shape our understanding of genetic modification, Africa's Gene Revolution surveys twenty years of efforts to use genomics-based breeding to enhance yields and livelihoods for African farmers. Matthew Schnurr considers the full range of biotechnologies currently in commercial use and those in development - including hybrids, marker-assisted breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering. Drawing on interviews with biotechnology experts alongside research conducted with more than two hundred farmers across eastern, western, and southern Africa, Schnurr reveals a profound incongruity between the optimistic rhetoric that accompanies genetic modification technology and the realities of the smallholder farmers who are its intended beneficiaries. Through the lens of political ecology, this book demonstrates that the current emphasis on improved seeds discounts the geographic, social, ecological, and economic contexts in which the producers of these crops operate. Bringing the voices of farmers to the foreground of this polarizing debate, Africa's Gene Revolution contends that meaningful change will come from a reconfiguration not only of the plant's genome, but of the entire agricultural system.

Genetically modified crops in Africa
Genetically modified crops in Africa

Author: Falck-Zepeda, José Benjamin

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2013-10-02

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0896297950

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A variable climate, political instability, and other constraints have limited agricultural development in African countries south of the Sahara. Genetically modified (GM) crops are one tool for enhancing agricultural productivity and food security despite such constraints. Genetically Modified Crops in Africa: Economic and Policy Lessons from Countries South of the Sahara investigates how this tool might be effectively used by evaluating the benefits, costs, and risks for African countries of adopting GM crops. The authors gather together studies on GM crops’ economic effects and impact on trade, how consumers view such crops, and other issues. They find that GM crops have had, on average, a positive economic effect in the nations where they were used and identify future steps for enhancing GM crop adoption’s positive effects. Promising policy initiatives include making biosafety regulations that do not make GM crop development prohibitively expensive, fostering intraregional trade in GM crops, and providing more and better information about GM crops to consumers who might currently be skeptical of them. These and other findings in Genetically Modified Crops in Africa indicate ways biotechnology can contribute to economic development in Africa south of the Sahara.

Genetically Engineered Crops
Genetically Engineered Crops

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-01-28

Total Pages: 607

ISBN-13: 0309437385

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Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.

GMOs
GMOs

Author: Anurag Chaurasia

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-11-30

Total Pages: 667

ISBN-13: 303053183X

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This book covers a broad spectrum of topics related to GMOs and allied new gene-based technologies, biodiversity, and ecosystem processes, bringing together the contributions of researchers and regulators from around the world. The aim is to offer a clear view of the benefits and effects of genetically modified crops, insects, and other animals on the soil microbiome and ecological processes. Contributors examine issues related to the development of risk assessment procedures and regulations designed to maximize benefits while minimizing risks. Beyond the scientific challenges of GMOs, the book explores the broad and contentious terrain of ethical considerations. The contributors discuss such questions as the unintended, possibly unforeseen, consequences of releasing GMOs into ecosystems, and the likelihood that the full effects of GMOs could take years, even decades, of close monitoring to become evident. The importance of developing a precautionary approach is stressed. The final chapter describes the critical issues of governance and regulation of new and emerging gene-based technologies, as nations grapple with the consequences of adopting the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB). The volume includes an extensive Annex which outlines legal perspectives on the state of GMO governance around the world, with more than 20 examples from nations in Africa, South and Central America, Asia, Australasia, and Europe.

Genetically Modified Organisms in Developing Countries
Genetically Modified Organisms in Developing Countries

Author: Ademola A. Adenle

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-06-09

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1108239137

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Bringing together the ideas of experts from around the world, this incisive text offers cutting-edge perspectives on the risk analysis and governance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), supporting effective and informed decision-making in developing countries. Comprised of four comprehensive sections, this book covers: integrated risk analysis and decision making, giving an overview of the science involved and examining risk analysis methods that impact decision-making on the release of GMOs, particularly in developing countries; diversification of expertise involved in risk analysis and practical ways in which the lack of expertise in developing countries can be overcome; risk analysis based regulatory systems and how they can be undermined by power relationships and socio-political interests, as well as strategies for improving GMO policy development and regulatory decision-making; and case studies from developing countries providing lessons based on real-world experience that can inform our current thinking.

Pathways to Productivity
Pathways to Productivity

Author: Kristin Wedding

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013-10-16

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 1442227885

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This report provides an overview of the debate in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda over genetically modified (GM) crops and their potential role in improving food security among smallholder farmers. Specifically, in each country, it examines regulatory structures, science and research capacity, communication and public opinion, the views of smallholder farmers, and the forecast for adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Additionally, it examines regional regulatory efforts and potential trade impacts. Finally, the report provides a set of policy recommendations targeted toward the U.S. government, focus country governments, the donor community, and nongovernmental organizations.

Africa Environment Outlook 2
Africa Environment Outlook 2

Author: United Nations

Publisher: UNEP/Earthprint

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 9280726919

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This is the second comprehensive report on the state of Africa's environment, produced in collaboration with the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). This report highlights the central position Africa's environment continues to play in sustainable development, as well as its potential to achieve progress in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. The report profiles Africa's environmental resources as an asset for the continent's development. It highlights the opportunities presented by the region's natural resource base to support the continent's development. It also underscores the concept of sustainable livelihoods, and the importance of the environmental initiatives in supporting them.

GM agricultural technologies for Africa
GM agricultural technologies for Africa

Author: Chambers, Judith A.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2014-09-29

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13:

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The African Development Bank (AfDB), in commissioning this report to be prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), highlighted the need for a comprehensive, evidenced-based review of agricultural biotechnology in order to better understand its current status, issues, constraints, and opportunities for Africa. Agricultural biotechnology comprises several scientific techniques (genetic engineering, molecular marker-assisted breeding, the use of molecular diagnostics and vaccines, and tissue cul­ture) that are used to improve plants, animals, and microorganisms. However, in prepar­ing this desktop analysis, IFPRI has focused on genetic modification (GM) technologies in particular and on the agricultural context in which they are being applied, because GM technologies are at the center of the controversy about biotechnology’s role in Africa. In addition, because we have attempted to focus our review on peer-reviewed evidence and documented examples, the preponderance of data presented in the report is focused on genetically modified (also abbreviated GM) crops in use and under development, although we recognize the potential of the technology for livestock, fisheries, and forestry.