The Gene Revolution

by Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko

• ISBN13: 9781844074099
• ISBN10: 1844074099
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

* With sixty countries now in the GM race, the rising Gene Revolution in agriculture is overtaking the Green Revolution of the 1960s and '70s * The first assessment of both the GM reality in China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, the US and the EU and the consequences of GM crops for billions of people as the monetary and technological divide between rich and poor widens The high-yield selective breeding of the Green Revolution of the 1960s and '70s is now being overtaken by the Gene Revolution--the development and spread of GM crops across the world. With over ninety million hectares already under cultivation and sixty countries conducting research, GM is reviled by some as a vast Pandora's Box and corporate sell-out, while hailed by others as the necessary technological solution to stagnating agricultural output, ballooning populations, climate change and drought. Sandwiched in between are developing and transitional countries where the need to feed vast populations and to compete against the US in international markets are compelling reasons to get on the GM bandwagon. This is the first book to bridge the gap between the naysayers and cheerleaders, and to provide a penetrating examination of the realities, complexities, benefits and pitfalls of GM adoption in developing countries that are desperately fighting poverty while trying to stay afloat in the hyper-competitive global economy.

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes	p. xi
List of Contributors	p. xiv
Glossary of Commonly Used Terms	p. xx
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xxiv
Preface	p. xxix
National Development Priorities and the Role of Institutions: Framing the Issues
Introduction: Genetically Modified Crops and National Development Priorities	p. 3
Why this book?	p. 3
What are genetically modified crops?	p. 4
Developing country priorities	p. 6
Five policy objectives: Beyond poverty and hunger	p. 6
Agenda for global integration and social equity	p. 8
Concerns of opposition movements	p. 9
Local priorities, local concerns, local processes	p. 11
The plan of the book	p. 12
Emergence and Global Spread of GM Crops: Explaining the Role of Institutional Change	p. 15
History of GM crops: Emergence and global spread	p. 16
Research and development	p. 16
Commercial production	p. 20
Technological innovation and institutional change	p. 24
Institutional change for development and diffusion of GM crop varieties	p. 23
Why the US leads	p. 26
Why Europe diverged	p. 27
Why West and Central Africa have not yet adopted the new technology	p. 29
Why the crops spread globally to Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa but not elsewhere	p. 29
Alternative institutional models	p. 31
US: Leading Science, Technology and Commercialization	p. 36
Introduction	p. 36
Crop improvement research in the US	p. 36
Regulation of GM varieties in the US	p. 36
The US seed market	p. 42
A model of the transfer of GM technologies to developing countries	p. 46
Summary	p. 49
Europe: Turning Against Agricultural Biotechnology in the Late 1990s	p. 51
Introduction	p. 51
Overview: The sequence of policy change from 1980 until 2005	p. 52
Economic interests of stakeholders in Europe	p. 53
Support for R&D in biotechnology since the early 1980s and intellectual property rights protection	p. 56
Research and development	p. 56
Intellectual property rights	p. 58
Record of crop approval since early 1990s (including after the 1998-2004 moratorium)	p. 58
Regulation: Environmental assessment, labelling, Cartagena Protocol and trade impacts	p. 60
Sequence of regulatory moves regarding safety assessments and environmental assessments	p. 60
Environment impact assessment: Regulations and politics	p. 61
Labelling	p. 61
Impact on trade policy and trade flows	p. 62
Role in Cartagena Protocol for Biosafety	p. 63
A political explanation of the move towards strong precautionary policies	p. 63
Future perspectives: Towards new regulations on coexistence?	p. 65
West and Central Africa: Strategizing Biotechnology for Food Security and Poverty Reduction	p. 69
Introduction	p. 69
Biotechnology in the context of national/subregional priorities	p. 71
The potential of biotechnology in meeting national priorities	p. 71
The constraints	p. 72
Embracing the new initiative: Engaging the region	p. 73
CORAF/WECARD's approach to agricultural biotechnology research and development in the subregion	p. 73
The research and development agenda	p. 74
Priority setting process	p. 74
The programme	p. 75
Product development and delivery focus	p. 76
Investments required for agricultural biotechnology in West and Central Africa	p. 78
Institutional challenges	p. 79
Seed systems	p. 79
Intellectual property right issues	p. 81
Dual approach to supporting product development and delivery	p. 81
Public information and communication for biotechnology	p. 82
GM Crops for Development: The Experience of Argentina, Brazil, China, India, South Africa
Argentina: Adopting RR Soy, Economic Liberalization, Global Markets and Socio-economic Consequences	p. 85
Background	p. 85
The diffusion of GM crops	p. 87
The seed industry	p. 89
Biosafety and other regulations	p. 90
Institutional factors in the diffusion of GM crops	p. 91
Research and development efforts	p. 94
Economic and social impacts	p. 96
Distribution of benefits among farmers and input suppliers	p. 96
Concluding remarks	p. 99
Brazil: Confronting the Challenges of Global Competition and Protecting Biodiversity	p. 104
Introduction	p. 104
Modern biotechnology research in Brazil: Activities and achievements	p. 105
Overview	p. 105
Genomic and proteomic research	p. 107
Brazilian 'in house' agricultural biotechnology: Some considerations	p. 108
Institutional environment	p. 108
Research infrastructure and financing	p. 109
Training of human resources	p. 110
Intellectual property rights and GM crops	p. 110
The biosafety law	p. 111
Seed companies	p. 113
Commercial production of GM crops in Brazil	p. 114
Socio-economic issues	p. 116
Farm income impact assessments	p. 116
Other socio-economic issues	p. 118
Identity preservation and market impact	p. 120
Conclusion	p. 122
China: Emerging Public Sector Model for GM Crop Development	p. 130
Introduction	p. 130
Agricultural biotechnology development and policy	p. 131
Goals and strategies	p. 131
Benefits from GM crops	p. 133
Development priorities	p. 134
Building national capacity in R&D	p. 135
Agricultural biotechnology research programmes and institutions	p. 135
Agricultural biotechnology research capacity and investment	p. 136
Remaining challenges	p. 139
Agricultural GM product biosafety regulation	p. 139
Institutional setting	p. 139
Biosafety regulations	p. 140
Remaining challenges	p. 144
Commercial dissemination: Policy shifts and impacts	p. 145
Intellectual property rights	p. 145
The seed industry	p. 147
Policy shifts and the impact on producer efficiency	p. 147
Identifying the differences in efficiency	p. 148
Concluding remarks	p. 149
India: Confronting the Challenge - The Potential of Genetically Modified Crops for the Poor	p. 156
Introduction	p. 156
Poverty reduction and GM crops: The links	p. 157
Government policies: Objectives, priorities, commitment	p. 158
Public sector research: Agenda and results	p. 159
Biotechnology in the private sector	p. 160
Biosafety regulation: How has it worked?	p. 161
The' illegal' seeds	p. 162
Implementation process: Political economy dynamics	p. 163
The surplus from Bt cotton: Distribution of gains among farmers, consumers and seed companies	p. 165
GM cotton seeds market: Is it competitive?	p. 168
Revisiting the impact of GM crops on the poor	p. 170
South Africa: Revealing the Potential and Obstacles, the Private Sector Model and Reaching the Traditional Sector	p. 175
Introduction	p. 175
History and background	p. 176
History of agricultural biotechnology and genetically modified crops in South Africa	p. 176
Agricultural sector: Dualistic structure and liberalization reforms	p. 178
Farm level yield and income impacts for small-scale farmers in South Africa	p. 179
Small scale farmers and Bt cotton: Makhatini Flats experience	p. 179
Subsistence farmers: Bt maize experience	p. 182
R&D in the public and private sectors	p. 183
Institutional challenges for R&D	p. 183
Policy initiatives to encourage biotechnology R&D	p. 186
Biosafety regulation	p. 187
Intellectual property rights	p. 188
Marketing of seeds and products	p. 189
The seed market	p. 189
GM free export markets	p. 191
Labelling	p. 192
Policy challenges and conclusions	p. 193
Comparing and Analysing Developing Country Experiences
Institutional Changes in Argentina, Brazil, China, India and South Africa	p. 199
Commercial production	p. 201
Trends: Diffusion outpaces approvals	p. 201
Within country differences in diffusion rates	p. 202
Institutional factors in diffusion	p. 203
Developing R&D capacity	p. 204
Outputs	p. 204
Scope of investment	p. 213
Institutional approaches	p. 214
Creating a regulated seed market: Biosafety controls, intellectual property and seed marketing	p. 216
Emerging business models for seed development and commercialization	p. 218
The Role of Government Policy: For Growth, Sustainability and Equity	p. 222
Government policy: Objectives	p. 222
Global integration agenda: Technology and markets	p. 223
Social equity agendas	p. 225
Local contexts: National policy, stakeholders	p. 227
Government Policy: Tools	p. 228
Support to R&D	p. 230
Biosafety legislation	p. 231
Patents	p. 232
GM crops for poverty reduction and food security: The path not yet taken?	p. 233
Index	p. 238
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