who benefits from gm crops?

The report argues that USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are aggressively promoting GM crops in Africa by influencing biosafety legislation and bypassing national regulations through Regional Economic Communities (RECs). It highlights the contrast between the 'precautionary approach' of the Cartagena Protocol and the 'promotional approach' of US-funded programs like the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Programme (ABSP) and the Programme for Biosafety Systems (PBS). The document uses case studies from South Africa, Kenya, and Malawi to illustrate how GM adoption can lead to corporate consolidation and increased food insecurity, while criticizing philanthropic projects like Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) as 'Trojan horses' for private agribusiness interests.

• The United States government, primarily through USAID, uses the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Programme (ABSP) and the Programme for Biosafety Systems (PBS) to influence African biosafety policies, aiming to minimize regulation and create 'attractive environments for agribusiness investors'.
• There is a strategic shift toward 'harmonisation of biosafety policy' through Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to bypass national decision-making and create centralized approval systems, such as the 'one-stop-shop' model, to facilitate the trade of GMOs.
• The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has adopted guidelines for the commercial planting and trade of GMOs that the report claims flout international biosafety law and the Cartagena Protocol by moving away from case-by-case risk assessments.
• Philanthropic initiatives like Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) are described as 'Trojan horses' that allow companies like Monsanto to influence legislation and gain regulatory approval for products under the guise of royalty-free aid.
• In South Africa, the adoption of GM crops has not solved hunger; instead, it has concentrated the maize value chain in the hands of a few powerful companies, making the 'rich richer and the poor poorer'.
• The report identifies a conflict between the African Model Law on Biosafety, which emphasizes a precautionary approach and socio-economic wellbeing, and the US-led 'science-based' approach that excludes socio-economic context from approval processes.
• Despite the promotion of GM crops, many African countries have implemented bans or restrictions on GMOs, such as Kenya's 2012 ban on GM commodity imports due to a lack of safety data.

APA

Swanby, H. (2015). who benefits from gm crops? Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Who-benefits-report-2015.pdf

Chicago

Swanby, Haidee. who benefits from gm crops? Friends of the Earth International, 2015. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Who-benefits-report-2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Swanby |first1=Haidee |title=who benefits from gm crops? |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=February 2015 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Who-benefits-report-2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{swanby2015who, author = {Swanby, Haidee}, title = {{who benefits from gm crops?}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2015}, month = feb, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Who-benefits-report-2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }