technologies

On seeds: controlling the first link in the food-chain

Thanks to the US’s 2009 Global Food Security Act, food aid policy for the first time mandates the use of genetic modification technologies. Nidhi Tandon looks at how this legislation helps biotechnology companies monopolise the seed industry at the expense of farmers, and explores some of the dubious links between these corporations, the Gates Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. Good update and overview article

Thanks to the US’s 2009 Global Food Security Act, food aid policy for the first time mandates the use of genetic modification technologies. Nidhi Tandon looks at how this legislation helps biotechnology companies monopolise the seed industry at the expense of farmers, and explores some of the dubious links between these corporations, the Gates Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. Good update and overview article

The authoritarian face of the “Green Revolution”: Rwanda capitulates to agribusiness

Researcher Manuel Milz takes an in-depth look at the “green revolution” programme that the Government of Rwanda launched in 2007. Milz finds that the programme's coercive transformation of agriculture has failed to improve the lives of the vast majority of the country's peasants, while dramatically increasing the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers.

Researcher Manuel Milz takes an in-depth look at the “green revolution” programme that the Government of Rwanda launched in 2007. Milz finds that the programme's coercive transformation of agriculture has failed to improve the lives of the vast majority of the country's peasants, while dramatically increasing the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers.