African Union Crafts Guidelines For GM Crops, Activists Raise Alarm

With an unelected ‘African Union Commission’ executive branch located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the architects of the African Union construct have not hidden the fact that it was modeled on the undemocratic ‘Brussels EU’ in Europe. In seeking to harmonize regulations across the entire African continent in favor of corporate multinational interests, the construct is exhibiting a similar disdain for ordinary citizens to that of its dictatorial European counterpart.

Despite coming under heavy corporate and political pressure to expand GM crops in Africa, only 7 countries (Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan) have so far approved them for commercial production. In addition to citing food safety concerns, anti-GMO campaigners in the region point out that the crops trap poor African farmers into a debt cycle of buying unaffordable seeds and agrochemicals.

The people of Africa and the world need to understand that the production of GM crops is based on precisely the same corporate business model as that of the multinational pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Regardless of whether we are talking about GM seeds, medicinal drugs or synthetic chemicals, the strategy in each case is precisely the same: altering naturally occurring molecules in such a way that they can be patented and owned. To the companies and industries that engage in these business practices, the health interests of people are essentially irrelevant. All that matters is controlling multibillion dollar global markets and satisfying the commercial greed of shareholders.

To read how our international ‘Free Food for All’ campaign promotes the use of natural, organic agriculture approaches and opposes the use of GM crops, visit the Movement of Life website.

To learn about our Movement of Life work in Uganda, watch this short video on our YouTube channel.