The widespread adoption of GM crops seems likely to exacerbate the underlying causes of food insecurity, leading to more hungry people, not fewer. To have a lasting impact on poverty, ActionAid believes policy makers must address the real constraints facing poor communities - lack of access to land, credit, resources and markets instead of focusing on risky technologies that have no track record in addressing hunger.
Conclusion and recommendations:
The widespread adoption of GM crops seems likely to exacerbate the underlying causes of food insecurity, leading to more hungry people, not fewer. To have a lasting impact on poverty, ActionAid believes policy makers must address the real constraints facing poor communities - lack of access to land, credit, resources and markets instead of focusing on risky technologies that have no track record in addressing hunger.
Poverty
" Donors and governments should address the wider socio-economic causes of food insecurity land, credit, rural training and infrastructure before putting resources into GM crops.
GM crops
" They should introduce a moratorium on the further commercialisation of GM crops until more research has been carried out into the socio-economic, agronomic, environmental and biodiversity impacts of GM crops, particularly in developing countries.
" Poorer farmers and communities should be enabled to participate more in national GM debates and policymaking.
Intellectual property
" Genetic resources for food and agriculture should be exempt from intellectual property requirements.
" Farmers rights to save and exchange seeds should be recognised under the intellectual property rules of the WTO and should be protected in developing country intellectual property rights legislation.
Corporate concentration
" Governments should introduce competition rules to prevent private sector monopolies and effective institutions to enforce them.
Biosafety
" The potential impact of GM crops on food security, poor farmers and biodiversity should guide the development and implementation of national biosafety frameworks.
Public sector research
" Funding for public sector agricultural research should be increased and should specialise in support for sustainable, farmer-led agriculture.
Read a summary or the full report in PDF format from:
http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/gatg.pdf
The widespread adoption of GM crops seems likely to exacerbate the underlying causes of food insecurity, leading to more hungry people, not fewer. To have a lasting impact on poverty, ActionAid believes policy makers must address the real constraints facing poor communities - lack of access to land, credit, resources and markets instead of focusing on risky technologies that have no track record in addressing hunger.
Poverty
" Donors and governments should address the wider socio-economic causes of food insecurity land, credit, rural training and infrastructure before putting resources into GM crops.
GM crops
" They should introduce a moratorium on the further commercialisation of GM crops until more research has been carried out into the socio-economic, agronomic, environmental and biodiversity impacts of GM crops, particularly in developing countries.
" Poorer farmers and communities should be enabled to participate more in national GM debates and policymaking.
Intellectual property
" Genetic resources for food and agriculture should be exempt from intellectual property requirements.
" Farmers rights to save and exchange seeds should be recognised under the intellectual property rules of the WTO and should be protected in developing country intellectual property rights legislation.
Corporate concentration
" Governments should introduce competition rules to prevent private sector monopolies and effective institutions to enforce them.
Biosafety
" The potential impact of GM crops on food security, poor farmers and biodiversity should guide the development and implementation of national biosafety frameworks.
Public sector research
" Funding for public sector agricultural research should be increased and should specialise in support for sustainable, farmer-led agriculture.
Read a summary or the full report in PDF format from:
http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/gatg.pdf
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