Africa may be able to provide food security to the world if it could triple or quadruple domestic production over two seasons through simple changes to agricultural practices, says a UN expert. Mafa Chipeta, sub-regional coordinator for the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation in east Africa advised Africa to drop its reliance on food imports and learn to feed itself. The statement came in response to rising food prices. He also argued for the need for more investment in irrigation and dismissed the need for high-tech solutions such as GM crops.

GM banana field trial suffered leaf disease

While scientists in Uganda were hoping that GM banana would help reduce occurrence of banana diseases, field trials to develop a GM banana variety have suffered a setback after the plants were attacked by Black Sigatoka, a deadly local banana disease. Black Sigatoka is a leaf disease that can cut a banana tree’s fruit production by half. The fungal disease causes dark leaf spots that eventually enlarge, causing much of the leaf area to turn yellow and brown. Local banana varieties are vulnerable to numerous other diseases and pests, including the banana bacterial wilt disease and weevils. Scientists carrying out the study however said it was too early to say the GM banana field trial has failed.  

Chinese biotech major announces new GM seeds

Origin Agritech Limited a leading crop biotech company in China has announced that it has approved three new corn hybrid varieties and one new GM cotton variety for distribution during the 2009 sales season in five provinces throughout China. The Company has a total of 68 corn seeds and 15 cotton seeds approved for sale in China. The approval process of GM crops in China requires the applicant to undergo two growing seasons of monitored growth in at least five different locations in the region. Seeds submitted for testing are planted together with control seeds, which are typically the most popular seeds in the testing regions. Only seeds that have an increased yield of 5-8% or higher versus the control seeds are cleared to proceed to the second year of testing.

EU food, grain industries call for GMO flexibility

Leading food processing companies in Europe have asked for adopting a flexible approach towards small amounts of GM material, which at present is not allowed in EU markets. EU food processing companies have long complained of problems sourcing raw material. They have warned that Europe's extreme caution and "zero tolerance"  towards GMOs, could be disastrous for the food and feed sectors. EU law sets a threshold of 0.9 percent for GM material in food and feed, above which a product must be labelled as biotech.

Soyabeen industry bats for crop biotechnology 

The American Soybean Association has defended the use of soybean oil for biodiesel production and said crop biotechnology is important in meeting the world’s growing demand for food, feed and fuel. According to the association, biodiesel production uses only the oil component of the soybean, so increased domestic processing of soybeans to get the soybean oil actually increases the supply of protein-rich soybean meal available to the animal feed industry, as well as for the food industry. Another priority for reducing global food prices is to help developing countries adopt commercial production of GM crops.