The US embassy in Accra held a roundtable on biotechnology this month. The discussion, designed to promote candid dialogue between biotechnology supporters and sceptics, was attended by experts and campaign groups on both sides of the GM foods debate.

But one Ghanaian campaign group refused the invitation. “Our call for a moratorium on GM foods was met with an invitation to a closed-door discussion,” said Duke Tagoe, of Food Sovereignty Ghana, which campaigns for greater transparency about GM foods. “We are deeply worried about what seems like an imposition of genetically modified foods on the good people of Ghana without any meaningful public discourse, compounded by attempts to stifle any opposition.”

Food Sovereignty Ghana and other domestic organisations accuse the US and other foreign donors of promoting GM foods to west African countries, and tying aid to implementation.

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