Friday, November 15, 2013

Webinar: November 20th, Best Practices to Improve Situational Awareness ^ Interoperability

The National Information Sharing Consortium (NISC)

Sharing Tools and Best Practices to Improve Situational Awareness and Interoperability

November 20, 2013 -- 12:00 Noon Eastern

EMForum.org is pleased to host a one hour presentation and interactive discussion Wednesday, November 20, 2013 beginning at 12:00 Noon Eastern time (please convert to your local time). Our topic will be the National Information Sharing Consortium (NISC). As an independent consortium, NISC strives to bring together data owners, custodians, and users involved in the fields of homeland security, public safety, and emergency management and response to leverage efforts related to governance, development, and sharing of technology, data processes, and best practices.

Our guest will be Sean McSpaden, Membership and Outreach Coordinator for the consortium and Principal Legislative IT Analyst for the State of Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office.

Please make plans to join us, and see the Background Page for links to related resources and participant Instructions. On the day of the program, use the Webinar Login link not more than 30 minutes before the scheduled time. As always, please feel free to extend this invitation to your colleagues

In partnership with Jacksonville State University, EIIP offers CEUs for attending EMForum.org Webinars.  See http://www.emforum.org/CEUs.htm for details.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Typhoon Haiyan. PHILIPPINES. Little Preparation for a Great Disaster


http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/little-preparation-for-a-great-disaster/


Asia-PacificDevelopment & AidEditors' ChoiceEnvironmentFeaturedGlobal GovernanceHeadlinesHuman Rights,Humanitarian EmergenciesPopulationPoverty & MDGsRegional CategoriesTerraViva EuropeTerraViva United Nations,United Nations

Little Preparation for a Great Disaster

The coastal town of Ormoc city in western Leyte, Philippines after typhoon Haiyan struck. Credit: Arlynn Aquino EU/ECHO/CC by 2.0
The coastal town of Ormoc city in western Leyte, Philippines after typhoon Haiyan struck. Credit: Arlynn Aquino EU/ECHO/CC by 2.0
MANILA, Nov 12 2013 (IPS) - Despite the government’s early warnings and evacuation of up to 800,000 people from vulnerable areas, the category 5 – the highest level – Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda to Filipinos) has left some communities and coastal zones in the central Philippine islands of Visayas in complete ruins.
Widely characterised as history’s strongest-ever typhoon, Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines on Nov. 8, slightly weakening before claiming the lives of thousands of people and inflicting severe economic damage on the country.
By some estimates, as many as 10,000 people may have lost their lives, with Tacloban City, the capital of Leyte province, bearing the brunt of the super typhoon. Another 600,000 people have been displaced, according to the U.N.
In the initial hours of the typhoon’s landfall, intermittent reports provided a glimpse of the potential impact of the storm, but many communities remained inaccessible to authorities and aid agencies for days.
This meant thousands of people were left with no basic necessities in the hours following the damage, with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over many affected areas in need of immediate assistance.
Almost a day into the storm’s landfall, the U.N. office in Manila rang alarm bells by telling Bloomberg news that certain areas were “still cut off from relief operations”, with “unknown numbers of survivors [lacking] basic necessities” due to the massive destruction of basic infrastructure.
“In the coming days, be assured: help will reach you faster and faster,” Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared after visiting the devastated areas, trying to reassure thousands of desperate citizens in need of relief and basic security. “The delivery of food, water and medicines to the most heavily affected areas is at the head of our priorities.”
Hours after the storm, local media portrayed a general picture of desperation and panic as many citizens sought basic commodities wherever they could find them. It took some time before the government was able to send troops and personnel to organise the distribution of relief and establish a modicum of stability in badly affected areas.
The Philippines army dispatched four C-130 planes to the affected areas, which were only able to arrive during daylight hours. An army battalion, comprising up to 250 troops, was sent to Tacloban, the most badly affected area.
“We’re sending medicine, relief goods, emergency response teams and tents, generators, communications equipment and fuel,” army spokesman Colonel Miguel Okol told reporters, underscoring the importance of the armed forces to relief operations as well as establishing post-crisis order. “But our priority right now is sending out security – Philippines National Police – to deal with the [reports of] violence.”
So far, reports suggest the extent of the damage overwhelmed local authorities, with the national government, in the immediate aftermath of the storm’s impact, struggling to establish communication with affected areas.
The sheer force of Haiyan simply devastated airports, roads, electricity grids, and telephone lines, making it almost impossible for optimal coordination between authorities and leaving some affected areas in momentary isolation – just when they needed help the most.
Up to 9.5 million people were affected, 20,000 houses were ruined, four airports were shut down, with the total estimated costs of typhoon Haiyan possibly reaching up to 14 billion dollars. The U.N. World Food Programme announced that as many as 2.5 million people were in need of emergency assistance.
In response, the government announced that it was releasing an initial amount of 533 million dollars in discretionary funds to cover immediate relief operations as well as reconstruction efforts.
In Tacloban, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) requested around 100 hectares for establishing a resettlement site for some 45,000 families. So far, it has acquired about 300 hectares from the local government.
The National Food Authority, meanwhile, announced that it has up to three million sacks of rice ready for redistribution in affected areas, but officials have raised concern with repacking of food items and their delivery to affected areas.
Experts such as Zhang Qiang, a specialist on disaster mitigation at Beijing Normal University, have tried to underscore the inevitability of Haiyan’s devastating impact on affected areas by arguing, “Sometimes, no matter how much and how fully you prepare, the disaster is just too big.”
Despite impressive rates of economic growth in recent years, with the Philippine economy projected earlier this year to grow by as high as seven percent in 2013, there has been relatively small investment in basic infrastructure. Thousands of roads and bridges are in desperate need of maintenance and improvement, while many rural areas are still to enjoy reliable electricity connection and reliable access to urban centres.
The Aquino administration has tirelessly sought to push ahead with a dozen major Private-Public Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects to boost the economy and improve the country’s resilience to natural disasters, yet most aren’t expected to be finished before 2015.
A combination of regulatory uncertainty, corruption, and mismanagement has left many areas, especially outside the industrialised centres in the northern island of Luzon, lacking in basic, quality infrastructure.
In recent years, experts and pundits have consistently pushed the Philippine government to improve its basic infrastructure, especially given the country’s vulnerability to natural calamities. Many have criticised the government for not implementing more decisive measures ahead of the storm.
Knowing very well that many shantytowns and coastal communities have always been vulnerable to natural disasters, there were a number of options that the government could have pursued, critics argue, from the mandatory evacuation of citizens in high-risk areas to the establishment of concrete bunkers that can withstand super- storms.
But for many, the greater issue is climate change, and how developing countries such as the Philippines have been paying the price of centuries of relentless industrial expansion by the developed world, exacerbated by the ongoing deadlock in climate negotiations, whereby major Western countries as well as big emerging economies have refused to subject their emission levels to mandatory reduction.
More regrettably, beyond the setbacks in mitigating global warming, many poorer countries have also lamented the rich world’s lack of investment in adaptation funds, which could help more vulnerable countries to cope with the impact of climactic fluctuations.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Webinar: 2014 Farm Bill Spending Plan

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 We have scheduled a series of Webinars to assist anyone who is planning on submitting a suggestion for consideration for the 2014 spending plan. Each of the hour long sessions will cover the same information, show attendees the submission process and provide time for asking questions.

Remember to check the Farm Bill Web site for the information you need to submit a suggestion for the FY14 Spending Plan.

Webinar Schedule

Tuesday
November 19
11:00 am eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Wednesday
November 20
11:00 am eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Wednesday
November 20
2:00 pm eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Thursday
November 21
11:00 am eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Thursday
November 21
2:00 pm eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Friday
November 22
11:00 am eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Thursday
December 5
2:00 pm eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)
Wednesday
December18
11:00 am eastern time
General Public
(Suggestion Help Session)

Webinar Details

The connection information for all the Webinars is the same.


Join the AUDIO portion: Dial Toll-free: +1 (888) 844-9904    Participant code: 118 6703

FIRST-TIME USERS of Microsoft Live Meeting
Check your system before the meeting to make sure it is ready to use Microsoft Office Live Meeting.

TROUBLESHOOTING
Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1. Copy this address and paste it into your web browser:
2. Copy and paste the required information:
       Meeting ID: FarmBill_FY14
       Location: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usda
If you still cannot enter the meeting, contact a technical support person for your system or


If you have any questions about the upcoming Webinars or information provided on the Farm Bill Web site, contact the Farm Bill Management Team at PPQ.Section.Farmbill-10201@aphis.usda.gov.

Sincerely,

The Farm Bill Management Team

Valerie DeFeo
Kristian Rondeau

Ken Bloem

Sunday, November 10, 2013

December 2, 2013. Unethical Medical Practice Congressional Hearings. Washington, D.C.

Dear Doctors, Civil Rights and Human Rights Legal Advocates:

As leaders seeking solutions to health disparities and reproductive justice for women in the U.S. and globally, it is my deep pleasure to inform you that on December 3rd, 2013, Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) will hold a two-hour Congressional Hearing on Unethical Medical Practices (see attached summary).

For example, in the U.S., whereas less than 2% of white women are injected with the dangerous drug Depo Provera (DMPA), Blacks, Latinas, low-income and vulnerable women & girls of all races are predominantly targeted and injected without knowledge of FDA warnings of lethal harm, and without informed consent. In sharp contrast, use of injectable contraceptives in Europe is virtually nonexistent but they still maintain the lowest rates of pregnancies in the world.

Witnesses will discuss the unethical use of Depo Provera in targeted Black communities with high HIV rates with inadequate clinics and hospitals.  Depo Provera significantly increases HIV/AIDS infections and breast cancer. The discussion will also include Norplant, which was pulled from U.S. markets in 2002 after multimillion dollar settlements by Pfizer. However, Norplant is still implanted in economically deprived women globally as part of US Family planning policy. Pfizer evades US litigation by licensing Norplant to European corporation Bayer, and Norplant is promoted by global health Foundations and the Population Council to Africans and other emerging markets (discussed on pages 4 and 13 in DMPA policy report).

Congressman Smith’s hearing on December 3rd, follows a Congressional Briefing held by Congressman William Lacy Clay (D-MO): “Black Box Warnings to Protect Black Women.” At that briefing on September 20th 2013, Hon. Clay emphatically stated the need to end the unethical practice of misleading women about Depo Provera’s serious harm. Cong. Lacy Clay is on the Oversight and Government Reform committee, Vice Chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
                                                            
We thank you for supporting our crucial transformative work to end harmful, racist and classist, US Depo Provera family planning policy.  We give special thanks to Reproductive Health funders, Shira Saperstein & Mary Ann Stein of the Moriah Fund for supporting the critical resistance needed by Jewish civil rights organizations (ACRI & others) to end racist Depo Provera policies in Israel to protect and restore the dignity of Africans and Black Jews.

For more questions about the Hearing please contact Gregory Simpkins, Staff Director for Congressman Chris Smith at 202-225-6217 / Gregory.Simpkins@mail.house.gov .  Witnesses and room number will be announced two weeks before Hearing. A second hearing is being planned with the Judiciary Committee. Thank you.

=====================================================
Hon. Congressman Christopher Smith is the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. Some highlights of his human rights record are: Chris Smith voted against his party to support sanctions against South Africa to help end Apartheid; Smith authored the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) to combat global human trafficking, and is an ardent advocate for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); and Rep. Smith has advocated for billions in HIV/AIDS health funding and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PEPFAR.


-------------------------------------------------------
Kwame Fosu
Policy Director
Rebecca Project for Human Rights
2029 P Street, NW, Suite 301
Washington, DC 20036
202-406-0911

Saturday, November 9, 2013

International: Food Security. Tanzania farm land. Foreign Investments.

"In 2012 activists welcomed a government announcement that it would cap the size of investment deals at 10,000 hectares, but although this was supposed to come into effect in January, it has yet to do so. "  Why?
Binta
=======================

Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2013 23:01:14 +0000

CONTENTS:

1 - Analysis: The poisoned chalice of Tanzania's land deals

IRINGA, 7 November (IRIN) - For more than a decade Tanzania has been wooing foreign investors to help modernize and reinvigorate its agricultural sector - which engages about 80 percent of the population - as a way of boosting national development.

But many supposed beneficiaries, such as smallholder Ahmed Kipanga, a 37-year-old father of five from the coastal Kisarawe District, feel short-changed.

"I used to till my land and grow enough food to feed my family," he told IRIN in Mbeya, 600km south of a home he no longer has access to, adding that he was also able to earn around US$250 selling his surplus crop for each of the year's two seasons.

"I just gave my land because we were convinced by a politician that it would make us rich. I knew I would get money for the land, and also get a well-paying job when the [investment] company began operations. Now they didn't do anything and they sold our land to another company we didn't even know," he added. 

 "We have been chasing our money for the land but they [district officials] keep telling different things every time we go for the money. I am not sure we will be paid [compensation]," he said.

 Kipanga now has no farm to grow food on and struggles to make ends meet by crushing rocks manually. A 7-tonne truckload brings in around $90, a sum he splits with two friends. Demand for the rocks is irregular.


In 2009, Kipanga was among 1,500 residents of 11 villages whose combined 8,211 hectares were leased to a British company that planned to grow jatropha [ http://www.irinnews.org/report/92267/climate-change-jatropha-not-really-green ] as a biofuel. The villages were given verbal promises of jobs, paved roads, new schools and a hospital.

But, as jatropha turned out to be less of a miracle [ http://www.irinnews.org/report/92267/climate-change-jatropha-not-really-green ] crop than envisaged, the project collapsed after a couple of years and was bought out by another firm which has left it dormant, employing only a handful of security guards to keep other villagers off the land.

According to the Oakland Institute, a US think tank which documented this particular [ http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/press-release-cautionary-tale-tanzanian-villagers-pay-biofuel-investment-disaster ] case as well land deals at the national [ http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/OI_country_report_tanzania.pdf ] and continental level, not only are the villagers worse off now, landless, jobless and with no compensation, but they also suffered a drop in income and living standards even when the project was functioning.

Some 27 agricultural investment deals have been signed in Tanzania since 2008, covering 274,228 hectare, according to data compiled by the Land Matrix [ http://landmatrix.org/get-the-detail/by-target-country/united-republic-of-tanzania/?order_by=&more=70 ]. Of these, 11 projects have either been abandoned (including a 34,000 hectare jatropha plantation in Kilwa District), or have yet to start production more than a year after contracts were signed. Just eight are operational.

In all, the Oakland Institute says, some 4.5 million hectares in Tanzania is being sought by foreign investors planning biofuel or food production and encouraged by the 2009 adoption of the Kilimo Kwanza (Agriculture First) initiative.

This includes the so-called AgriSol deal [ http://reliefweb.int/report/united-republic-tanzania/understanding-land-investment-deals-africa-lives-hold-impact-agrisol ], which, if it eventually goes through in the face of fierce local opposition, could see some 160,000 people displaced from their land in Mpanda District, Katabi Region, in the far west of the country.

Best laid plans

Since 2005, the share of Tanzania's budget spent on agriculture has risen more than fourfold [ http://www.africaforum.info/2012/Presentations%20from%20working%20groups%20-%20sub-themes/Policy%20%20CAADP/Policy%20Day%204%20Agricultural%20Council%20of%20Tanzania.pptx ], from 2.2 to 9 percent.

But, for the authors of a 2012 paper [ http://www.theigc.org/sites/default/files/Leyaro%20and%20Morrissey%202013.pdf ] by the International Growth Centre the effects have yet to trickle down: "[P]erformance in agricultural output and productivity has been disappointing. Policies and plans, such as `agriculture is the mainstay of the economy' and Kilimo Kwanza have remained [mere] slogans to the public as there is so little experience of reforms that have improved livelihoods, and millions in the agriculture sector remain in poverty."

Inadequate land-management legislation, the opaqueness of the deals and the widespread lack of title deeds have conspired to make large-scale land investment deals particularly problematic.

"There is mounting evidence that most deals have failed to deliver on their promises," Lorenzo Cotula, land rights and natural resources specialist at the Institute for Environment and International Development (IIED) [ http://www.iied.org/ ], told IRIN.

"Villagers have lost land, many investments have been discontinued, and jobs have been few and short-lived. Success stories are difficult to come by," he added.

"The law regulating the deals makes villagers vulnerable to dispossession. National laws only recognize weak land rights to rural people, and legal safeguards are ineffective," he said.

Other problems cited by Cotula include inadequate local consultation, non-compliance with legal requirements and conflict.

For Oakland Institute Executive Director Anuradha Mittal, across the world, "these largely unregulated land acquisitions are resulting in virtually none of the promised benefits for local populations, but instead are forcing millions of small farmers off ancestral lands and small, local food farms in order to make room for export commodities."

A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, defended the government's move to lease out land to foreign investors.

"Those cases that have failed are like any business that faces risks. These foreign investors have the money to set up large farms which would ensure people have employment and we can feed ourselves as a nation," he told IRIN. 

 "But I believe there are certain things we can do better like ensuring that people receive compensations for the land they live on. We must ensure people have some form of proof of ownership which we haven't done adequately," he added.

"This programme began in 2009 and I believe because acquisitions for related investments can drag on for years at times, I believe it is too early to judge its success."

The way ahead 

 For land deals to benefit farmers, says Cotula, "villagers must have greater control over their resources, through stronger rights but also through collective action that can give real leverage to legal rights."

Yefred Myenzi, the director of Haki Ardhi, a local land rights advocacy organization, said joint ventures between the local communities owning the land and investors could help ensure local communities do not lose out.

"Out-grower schemes [where the farmers continue to own their land but produce on behalf of the investor] have also been proposed in which case, the investor provides technical support and market whereas the farmers retain their land and produce with assurance of selling their produce," Myenzi, told IRIN.
In 2012 activists welcomed a government announcement that it would cap the size of investment deals at 10,000 hectares, but although this was supposed to come into effect in January, it has yet to do so.

--
Binta
301-802-2233

Founder, Executive Director of PLAD

International: Food Security. Africa: Monopolizing Maize

Africa: Monopolizing Maize
 
AfricaFocus Bulletin
November 9, 2013 (131109)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
 
Editor's Note
 
According to a new report from the African Centre for Biosafety, in
South Africa, "Monsanto's Bt maize, MON810, has failed hopelessly
in South Africa as a result of massive insect resistance, after
only 15 years of its introduction into commercial agriculture." Yet
the same variety is being promoted in other African countries by
projects supported by Monsanto. And South Africa's supply of maize,
a staple food, is dominated by a few large companies and consists
almost entirely of GM crop varieties.
 
For a version of this Bulletin in html format, more suitable for
printing, go to http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/food1311.php,
and click on "format for print or mobile."
 
While scientific and public opinion world-wide is fiercely divided
about the safety of genetically-modified crops, South Africa, like
the United States, is a country where the dominance of large-scale
commercial agriculture linked to global seed supply companies has
meant an open door for this controversial technology. Even if one
refrains from judgment on the safety for consumers of the
technology, the threat from the oligopoly of large corporate
interests to control of smallholder farmers' control of their seeds
is undeniable.
 
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press release and excerpts
from a new report from the African Centre for Biosafety, one of the
leading civil society research and advocacy organizations on this
issue. The new threat, they stress, is that the South African model
and the sway of South African and global agribusiness will be
further extended in the rest of the continent, including through
the dominance of corporate interests and thinking in philanthropic
projects.
 
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on food and agriculture issues,
visit http://www.africafocus.org/agexp.php
 
See, in particular, "Underdeveloping African Agriculture"
http://www.africafocus.org/docs13/ag1306.php
 
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
 
GM Maize Cartels Gorge Profits on SA's Poor, Eye African Markets
 
05 November 2013
 
African Centre for Biosafey
 
http://www.acbio.org.za/
 
Contact: Gareth Jones 081 493 4323;
Mariam Mayet 083 269 4309
 
The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has today released its new
research report titled 'GM Maize: Lessons For Africa-Cartels,
Collusion And Control Of South Africa's Staple Food' showing how a
select group of companies, including Tiger Brands, Pioneer and
Premier Foods who have previously fixed the price of bread and
maize meal, commandeer the entire maize value chain and continue to
squeeze the poorest South Africans. The ACB has recently shown that
the entire maize meal market is saturated with GM maize. [ACB
(2013), "Food Fascism in South Africa: Tiger Brands, Pioneer and
Premier Force Feeding the Nation Risky GM Maize."]
 
The report shows that the South African government, through the
Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is the largest investor in
Tiger Brands, and that over 50% of the company's shares are held
outside South Africa. Pioneer Foods' largest shareholder is Zeder,
the agribusiness investment arm of PSG Konsult Group, a private
financial services company. Premier Foods is 80% owned by private
equity firm Braite, listed on the Euro MTF market in Luxemburg but
domiciled in Malta, both jurisdictions being notorious tax havens.
'These ownership patterns have increased the distance between food
producers and consumers, and are lucrative avenues for capital
accumulation by actors far removed from these firms' locales.' Said
Mariam Mayet, Director of the ACB.
 
According to Gareth Jones, researcher at the ACB, 'It appears as if
South Africa's major millers and retailers are making healthy
profits from our staple food and certainly not passing falling
maize prices onto consumers.' The report shows that from April 2007
to April 2013, the average cost of a 5 kg bag of maize meal
increased by 43.7% in rural areas, and 51.8% in urban areas. 'These
sharp price increases aggravate the already appalling conditions
that millions of South Africans live under. This is particularly
significant for the poor, who spend 41% of their income on an
average "food basket" said Jones.
 
Further findings of the report include:
 
* Two companies Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred control the maize seed
market;
 
* Maize handling and storage is dominated by three companies
Senwes, NWK and Afgri, all former co-ops;
 
* Louis Dreyfus and Cargill, international grain traders, dominate
the maize trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange;
 
* A highly concentrated value chain feeds into an equally
concentrated food retail sector, with four major retailers:
Shoprite/Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar and Woolworths dominating the
market.
 
Rest of Continent at risk
 
According to the report, Premier and Pioneer have all expanded
their operations on the continent. Tiger Brands already operates in
22 countries on the continent and is a key player in establishing
maize value chains in Southern Africa. 'Having already gorged their
profit margins on the poorest of the poor in South Africa, these
corporate giants are now glancing covetously to the vast African
market north of the Limpopo. Experiences from South Africa should
serve as stark warnings' said Mayet.
 
Urgent Change Needed
 
The ACB report calls for an urgent reversal of this economic
concentration and for mechanisms to be put in place to develop
small players throughout the maize value chain, from farmers to
millers and retailers. This should include the promotion of agro-
ecological production methods, decentralised value chains and
public maize breeding programmes that provide access to seed that
can be freely shared and exchanged.
 
**********************************************************
 
Africa bullied to grow defective Bt Maize: The failure of
Monsanto's MON810 maize in South Africa
 
http://www.acbio.org.za
 
[The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) is a non-profit
organisation, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was
established to protect Africa's biodiversity, traditional
knowledge, food production systems, culture and diversity, from the
threats posed by genetic engineering in food and agriculture. It
has in addition to its work in the field of genetic engineering,
also opposed biopiracy, agrofuels and the Green Revolution push in
Africa, as it strongly supports social justice, equity and
ecological sustainability.]
 
Key Findings
 
1. Monsanto's Bt maize, MON810, has failed hopelessly in South
Africa as a result of massive insect resistance, after only 15
years of its introduction into commercial agriculture. In an effort
to deal with the pest infestation, Monsanto has compensated South
African farmers who experienced more than 10% damage on their
genetically modified (GM) insect resistant crops – some farmers
experienced as high as 50% insect infestation. MON810 is now
obsolete in SA and has been replaced with Monsanto's GM stacked
variety, MON8903, which expresses two different cry proteins,
Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab.
 
2. Bt technology was approved in SA before regulatory authorities
were capacitated to regulate it properly. MON810 was not fit for
commercial release and should never have been granted commercial
approval. The necessary monitoring of insect resistance was not
carried out and regulators did not ensure that farmers were
carrying out the required insect resistance management(IRM)
strategies, i.e. planting refuges.
 
3. In any event, IRM strategies were based on the false assumption
that the inheritance of resistance to MON810 was a recessive, not
dominant trait. In terms of this false assumption, current IRM
strategies require farmers to plant a 5% non-Bt maize 'refuge'
which may not be sprayed, or a 20% refuge which may be sprayed.
However, recent research has shown that the inheritance of
resistance is a dominant trait and that in order to stem rapid and
large-scale resistance, farmers will need to plant more than 50%
non-Bt maize as a refuge where non-resistant individuals can breed.
This requirement is not viable for farmers, highlighting the
unsustainability of the technology.
 
4. In Kenya, an attempt to commercialise publically developed Bt
technology in open-pollinated seed (which can produce a viable crop
year after year) by a charitable project called Insect Resistant
Maize for Africa (IRMA), funded by the Syngenta Foundation, failed
after 10 years of work. IRMA was unable to find Bt genes in the
public domain that were effective against the African stem borer.
It also came to realise that Bt technology cannot be used in open-
pollinated varieties because reusing seed that has been engineered
with Bt genes would expedite the development of insect resistance,
rendering the technology useless within a couple of seasons. The
IRMA project also found the cost of biotech seeds prohibitive for
typical African farmers. Hence IRMA abandoned their attempt to
bring Bt technology to resource poor farmers.
 
5. Another charitable project, the Water Efficient Maize for Africa
(WEMA) project which for the best part of five years only focused
on drought tolerant maize varieties in South Africa, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Kenya and Uganda is now incorporating MON810 into their
drought tolerant varieties. Monsanto has donated MON810 to the
project, royalty free. Unlike IRMA, WEMA's values are not
underpinned by a desire to bring GM crops that are appropriate for
African farmers onto the market. Although WEMA's products are said
to be 'royalty free'to small-holder farmers, the seed will be sold
to seed companies under strict licensing conditions. Under the
auspices of the WEMA project, trials of MON810 are already taking
place in Kenya and Uganda. WEMA is thus a convenient vehicle for
Monsanto to gain regulatory approval in Africa for the commercial
cultivation of MON810.
 
6. In Egypt, MON810 has been genetically engineered into a local
Egyptian maize variety called Ajeeb. This Egyptian variety has now
been patented by Monsanto. The introduction of GM technology on a
large scale in Egypt has largely failed to date, due to corruption
and difficulties in passing its Biosafety law. ...
 
Introduction
 
Genetic engineering (GE) is undoubtedly one of the most
controversial technologies to emerge in the 20th century; the
advent of modern biotechnology has 'triggered major scientific,
social and political controversies' since its introduction in the
1970's. The story of one of the first genetically modified (GM)
products to come onto the market, Monsanto's MON810 maize, which
contains Monsanto's patented Bt gene Cry1Ab, embodies much of the
controversy about genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
 
The Bt trait, which is toxic to certain agricultural pests, is
derived from a soil microorganism called Bacillus thuringienis
(Bt). MON810 is the 'event' name for the Bt maize variety owned by
Monsanto which expresses the Cry1ab Bt toxin, sold commercially in
South Africa as 'Yieldgard' maize. The Bt toxin expressed in the
crop is meant to render the use of pesticides to control insect
pests unnecessary. MON 810 is one of the oldest GM events on the
market and is approved for human consumption in more than a dozen
countries worldwide, including South Africa. It is also the only GM
variety cultivated in some parts of the European Union, mostly in
Spain. It is, however, banned in eight European countries on
environmental grounds. According to the United States, these bans
are not about safety concerns, but rather political in nature and
constitute unfair 'trade barriers' to American produce.
Unfortunately, Africa has become one of the battle grounds of the
GMO trade war between the US and Europe, and the adoption or
rejection of GMOs in Africa will mean a victory for one side or the
other. The story of MON810 in Egypt is a rich illustration of
Africa's awkward position in this trade war.
 
South Africa was an extremely early adopter of GM technology, not
just in Africa, which is yet to commercialise GM food crops on a
large scale, but even globally. The South African government issued
a permit for the commercial release of MON810 in 1997 – even before
GMO legislation was in place. This decision opened the door for
Monsanto to colonise the production of our staple food through
aggressive acquisitions in the South African seed industry and
patent laws protecting Monsanto's GM technology. The majority of
maize production in South Africa is carried out by large-scale
commercial farmers, who eagerly adopted the technology for ease of
pest management, savings on pesticides and reduced loss of yield
through pest damage.
 
However, South Africa is the first place in the world where insect
pest resistance has developed on a large scale. It is now
recognised by the scientific community and South African regulators
that this resistance cannot be managed or remediated; MON810 has
decisively failed. The product has been withdrawn in South Africa
from the 2013 planting season and has been replaced by Monsanto's
MON89034 in an attempt to deal with the insect resistance
problem10. A recent peer-reviewed study has revealed that the
African maize stem borer (Busseola Fusca) hasan inherently low
susceptibility to Bt toxin. Long held assumptions that the
inheritance of resistance to Bt is recessive have been shattered.
 
Although MON810 will no longer be cultivated in South Africa, the
Department of Agriculture's GM permit lists indicate that Monsanto
is exporting MON810 seeds to Kenya and Uganda for field trials.
This, despite the fact that the most damaging pest that needs to be
controlled in sub-Saharan Africa is the very Busseola Fusca that
has proven to be impervious to MON810 in South Africa. One of the
major vehicles pushing MON810 onto African countries is the
public/private partnership (PPP) spearheaded by the Gates
Foundation and Monsanto, called Water Efficient Maize for Africa
(WEMA). The aim of WEMA is to develop drought resistant crops,
through both conventional breeding and genetic engineering.
However, since 2011, with little fanfare, it has become evident
that MON810 will also be engineered into these new drought tolerant
GM varieties. The veneer of the 'charitable' orientation of the
project provides an excellent opportunity for Monsanto to gain
regulatory approval for a stacked GM event that is said to be both
drought tolerant and resistant to stem borers.
 
Another PPP, funded by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Agriculture (SFSA) project, called Insect Resistant Maize for
Africa (IRMA), spent many years attempting to develop Bt maize
varieties appropriate for African conditions. While the
projectsucceeded in developing scientific capacity in GM
technology, it ultimately failed to find an effective gene to
control the African maize stem borer. This, along with massive
obstacles created by intellectual property rights on the
technology, led the IRMA project to abandon the GM side of its
project in 2006. IRMA will now share its wealth of technical know-
how with the WEMA project, as well as assisting with implementation
of biosafety legislation and procedures (such as risk assessment
and experimental protocols) in Kenya, to pave the way for the
introduction of the very technology that has failed in South Africa
– MON810. It is anticipated that the first GM drought resistant and
insect resistant varieties will be released in Uganda and Kenya in
2015.
 
...
 
GM Maize – hi-tech, high cost crop
 
The biotech industry aggressively sells their product on the basis
that it is a key contributor in the global fight against hunger.
However, there are only four GM crops available on the market
(soya, maize, cotton and canola) and these crops are not primarily
valued for their contribution to global food security. This
expensive technology is being deployed in lucrative commodity crops
for the sake of profit.
 
Maize is the world's tenth most valuable agricultural commodity,
and the second most profitable grain, after wheat. It is the most
important crop in the United States, valued at US$76.5 billion in
2011, representing over 53% of global maize exports. In 2012, 90%
of maize production in the United States was genetically modified
(GM). While many of us in South Africa know maize as a staple food
for many millions of Africans in several countries on the
continent, maize as a staple is not common outside of Africa,
except in Mexico and some parts of the Andean region.
 
...
Maize – South Africa's staple food compromised
 
South Africa has eagerly followed GM developments in the United
States, however, an important difference between South Africa and
the world's largest producer of maize, is that maize is the staple
food in South Africa. About 60% of South Africa's maize production
is white maize, used primarily for human consumption, and 40% is
yellow maize, used primarily for animal feed. Maize is eaten
several times daily in a relatively unprocessed form, for example,
milled and boiled into porridge. It is commonly used as a first
food for babies, to wean them off the breast. In 2000, the ultra-
poor spent over 50% of their income on food, of which up to 20% was
spent on maize meal alone. In general, the 'typical' maize meal
consumer refers to a low-income individual residing in an urban and
rural area.
 
South Africa is unique in the world in that it has allowed the
genetic modification of its staple food. As GM varieties now
comprise close to 90% of the country's maize production, and no
segregation of GM and non-GM exists, consumers have no access
whatsoever to non- GM maize. Recent tests carried out by the ACB on
a range of popular maize brands in South Africa revealed that the
country's staple food is completely saturated with GM content ...
 
Civil society has petitioned the South African parliament to
seriously look into the matter, claiming that this situation is a
contravention of human rights. Having no choice but to eat a highly
controversial staple food, which is severely restricted in many
countries around the world, has been labelled 'food fascism' by
local social movements. They have also called for a review of
government's risk assessment procedures, to include, amongst other
things, long-term safety studies on human health. Currently, South
African regulatory authorities rely solely on safety data generated
by the producers of GMOs and long-term feeding trials to determine
safety are not required. This safety data is neither peer-reviewed
nor available to the South African public in its entirety, being
protected under laws that allow for the exclusion of information
considered to be 'confidential business information' (cbi).
 
Corporate takeover of South Africa's maize
 
As noted earlier, in 1997 Monsanto's GM 'insect resistant' (IR)
maize variety MON810 was approved for environmental release,
meaning that GM maize could be grown on a commercial scale. The
first commercial plantings took place in 1998. During the 2004/05
cropping season, when the South African National Seed Organisation
(SANSOR) began publishing such information, GM maize seed accounted
for 20% of maize seed sales. By
 
...
 
The adoption rate of GM maize seed in the intervening period has
been astounding: in 2012, 86% of all maize grown in South Africa
was GM. Up until 2003, when Syngenta's Bt11 was commercially
released in South Africa, all Bt maize hybrids involved MON810. By
2008 three new GM maize events had been approved for cultivation in
South Africa, but MON810 remained the most popular event – over 80%
of all GM maize seed imported into South Africa that year was
MON810.
 
 ...
 
As demonstrated above, the uptake of MON810 and subsequent GM
varieties in South Africa was extremely rapid, and Monsanto soon
dominated South Africa's maize seed market. In 1999 and 2000
Monsanto acquired two of South Africa's largest seed companies,
Sensako and Carnia, giving them a dominant share in the maize seed
market. By 2009, Monsanto controlled 50% of the maize seed market
...
 
...
 
Conclusion
 
The greatest beneficiary in the end is the developer or the owner
of the technology, like Monsanto, who has: captured charitable
projects as a way to introduce its product onto the market;
undermined good biosafety policy and gained access to public
germplasm and patented these. At the same time, classical breeding
programmes continue to develop new varieties that are performing
very well in African conditions, and this is done quicker, cheaper
and without the dangers of patents or the need for excessive
regulatory requirements.
 
It is now time for African governments to take cognisance of the
recommendations of many international reports that support
agroecological farming methods and distance themselves from
privately owned industrial agriculture. Agroecology is the key to
our future food security, social and environmental well-being.
Policies need to be shaped, not to hand over our food systems to
transnational agribusiness, but to support smallholder farmers
using the resources they have available to cultivate diverse food
systems for local consumption.
 
*****************************************************
 
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
 
AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
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or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
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