STUDY: Costs mounting for delayed approval of GE crops in Africa
The following is an excerpt of an article at Feedstuffs about the economic costs of delaying approval of genetically engineered crops in Africa.
Uncertainty and confusion on genetic engineering of main food crops in Africa have delayed the acceptance and application of these crops by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Model calculations by a team of researchers from the universities of Wageningen (Netherlands), Munich (Germany), Cape Town (South Africa) and Berkeley (California) reveal that the costs of a one year delay in approving the pod-borer resistant cow-pea in Nigeria will cost the country $33-46 million; and more disastrously, will take theoretically 100-3,000 lives, the team reported in Plos ONE.
Scientists, policy makers and other stakeholders have raised concerns that the approval process for new crops causes delays that are often scientifically unjustified. These delays are not only causing costs via foregone economic benefits but also lives via foregone calorie supplies for malnourished children, the researchers said.
In the Plos ONE study, the research team calculated these effects for the genetically engineered crops: cooking banana (matoke), cow pea and corn (maize) for five countries in Africa. They found that in Kenya, the benefits from reduced malnutrition can be larger than the total economic surplus. The benefits can be up to about $1,150 million for banana in Uganda, and about $795 million for corn in Kenya. Kenya, Uganda and many other African countries had the chance to follow South Africa’s example of adopting genetically engineered (GE) crops — also called biotech crops.
The researchers reported that if Kenya had adopted GE corn in 2006 — according to an earlier project this was possible — between 440 and 4,000 lives could theoretically have been saved. Similarly, Uganda had the possibility in 2007 to introduce the black sigatoka-resistant banana, thereby potentially saving between 500 and 5,500 lives over the past decade.
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To read the study, please see the study at the PLoS ONE website.