Globalization and the Human Factor: Critical Insights by Joseph Mensah

Author:Joseph Mensah [Mensah, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351157148
Google: qLlHDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 38136588
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-01-18T00:00:00+00:00

Part III:

Globalization, The Human Factor and Science and Technology

Chapter 6

National Agricultural Research Systems, the Biotechnology Revolution and Agricultural Development

Korbla P. Puplampu

Introduction

The recent strides in technology have revolutionized agricultural, marketing and consumption systems worldwide. Biotechnological innovations, in particular, have changed the nature of agricultural production, and have significant implications for the marketing and consumption of agricultural goods and services. Underlining the technological innovations is the fact that agricultural systems are no longer likely to be slow and laborious (Sherwood, 1989). These changes, especially in agricultural research, no doubt, have immense possibilities and implications for global agriculture. However, it is equally important to subject the possibilities and implications of technological changes in agriculture to a reality check, given the significant differences in agricultural research systems worldwide, differences that, in turn, mirror global inequalities.

Agricultural research systems in the developed industrialized and capitalist societies, to a very large extent, have undertaken innovative measures, are up to the potential of biotechnology and, indeed, are already utilizing it to improve upon their production, marketing and consumption systems (Janssen, 2002; UNDP, 2001; Tzotzos, 2000). For one thing, the gigantic multinational corporations (for example, Monsanto) at the helm of the research and development in biotechnology, have their targets on the temperate crops consumed in wealthy societies (DaSilva, 2001; Paarlberg, 2000).

To be sure, the role of biotechnology in advanced capitalist industrial countries has not been problem-free. Long before the French activist, José Bové, became popular in 1999 after leading a campaign against McDonald's, the global fast-food chain, and the destruction of genetically altered rice fields, prominent Europeans like Prince Charles and the musical icon Paul McCartney had made remarks critical about biotechnology. From the latter part of the 1990s, Western Europeans, particularly the British and the French, have been ambiguous about genetically modified food (Hodgson, 1999). Public resentments through organizations like Green Peace and some farmers' associations in the United States and Canada have also been growing against and, are sometimes, ambivalent with respect to genetically modified foods (Eichenwald, Kolata and Petersen, 2001, Einsiedel, 2000; Priest, 2000). The grounds for the ambivalence, in both Europe and North America, range from the safety of genetically modified food for human consumption, the implications of biotechnology for the environment, to the regulative framework being proposed by governments and the industry (The Economist, 1999). Such ambivalence continues even though various bodies have stressed the importance and potential of biotechnology, provided effective safeguards are introduced and enforced (see Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 1999).

Thus, it is not surprising that the role of biotechnology in global agricultural systems has been mixed and tapered with considerable caution and, at times, controversy (Gaskell and Durant, 2002; Gaskell and Bauer, 2001; Pinstrup-Andersen and Schiøler, 2001; Persley and Lantin, 2000; AgBioForum, 1999; Panos, 1999; Ruttan, 1999), With specific reference to Africa, there are analysts who demonstrate that biotechnology is the missing link that would bring about increases in agricultural production (Thirtle et al., 2003; Orniti, Chacha and Andama, 2002; Cherry, 2002; UNDP, 2001; Wambugu, 1999; Woodward, Brink, and Berger, 1999).

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