Aid Groups Conflicted Over Biotech Farming in Africa

Nonprofit organizations that work on agriculture issues in Africa are at odds over the use of biotechnology in farming, according to the Voice of America.

Those against the use of biotechnology include the Oakland Institute, in California, the Malian National Coordination of Peasant Organizations, and the African Center on Biodiversity, in Johannesburg. These groups recently spoke out against Oxfam America’s recent book describing the benefits of biotech crops, the news agency reports.

Lawrence Kent, a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said the foundation wants to reduce poverty and hunger while improving nutrition. “We see agriculture as the lever to do so, and we want to make sure that African farmers have access to the best technologies, whether they be conventional or ones that use biotechnology, so that they have a choice about which technology they think is most appropriate,” he told the Voice of America.