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With the significant rise in global food prices over the past three years, biotechnology industries are promoting genetic engineering in regions like Africa as a means to alleviate chronic hunger and poverty. In states such as Kenya, genetically modified crops have already been introduced with the promise of solving malnutrition problems while preserving the integrity of the environment. However, civil society organizations in South Africa have criticized the introduction of genetically modified foods in their country on the grounds that it will displace rural communities and encourage migration to the cities. “Voices from Africa,” a new report from the Oakland Institute, challenges the rationales put forth by the biotech industry and its Western-led philanthropic allies by presenting the opposition of farmers and environmentalists to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. The development strategy of the Alliance or AGRA, is roundly criticized in the pages of the study on the grounds that its technology-based solutions ignore structural causes for poverty and hunger in Africa while lacking transparency and accountability.

GUEST: Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute and editor of “Voices from Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa.”

For more information, download the report at http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/voicesfromafrica/pdfs/voices_cover.jpg