Print This PageGrowing Hope in Africa
Meeting Today's Needs While Building for Tomorrow
We believe that technology can help reduce the risks of farming — by producing the best quality seed possible and then protecting it against weeds, insects, and even drought. Through public-private partnerships, we are making progress in Africa in three phases that complement and build upon one another.
Phase I: Improved Access to Quality Hybrid Corn and Vegetable Seeds.
Conventional hybrid maize seed has been used in the United States for more than 70 years, yet it remains unknown or out of reach for most corn farmers in Africa. The experiences of farmers such as Mary Katsonya of Malawi show that subsistence and transitional farmers can double their yields by using high-quality seeds in combination with best management practices, such as appropriate fertilizer and water use.2 We are working with the partners described in this report and investing more in our own business in Africa to achieve this.
Phase II: Improved Access to Existing Biotechnology Traits.
Biotechnology products such as insect-resistant maize and cotton have been grown by millions of farmers around the world for the past 10 years and have brought significant benefits to smallholder farmers in Asia and South Africa.8 Like hybrid seeds, however, these yield-protecting traits are virtually unknown to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. We are working with farmer groups and other stakeholders to encourage the governments of Africa to put in place sound regulations that would allow field trials of these existing biotech traits so that scientists and the public can observe firsthand the safety and benefits of this technology for their farmers. (See Viewpoint for information on the African Agriculture Technology Foundation, which works to apply existing technologies to the crops most important to African farmers.)
Global climate change is likely to intensify the effects of
drought, and Africa may be the continent most severely affected.
Phase III: New Biotechnology Products for Africa.
It’s very likely that Malawi will again face drought as severe as the droughts of 2004-2005. Drought occurs regularly on the African continent, and it is a major factor limiting corn production. Global climate change is likely to intensify the effects of drought. Africa, which may be the continent most severely affected, has the fewest resources to adapt to these changes. Already the constant threat of drought discourages many farmers from investing in some of the more basic agriculture inputs and best management practices, because they simply do not know when a lack of rain will wipe out all of their gains.
We believe that drought-tolerance technology should be developed in African seeds, specifically for use by farmers in these drought-prone areas.
Technology is being developed to protect temperate climate maize crops from yield losses due to drought. After several years of field trials, the results are promising. But if the historical technology gap between the introduction of new agricultural technology remains, it could be 10 years or more after the U.S. introduction of drought-tolerant maize before African farmers have a similar product available to them.
To make drought-tolerant maize for Africa a reality on a timeline that is parallel with, rather than sequential to, the U.S. launch, Monsanto is establishing partnerships with international research institutes, NGOs, foundations, and national research organizations in Africa.
The need is urgent. These public/private partnerships are essential to drive real change in Africa. They are collaborations that can grow hope.
