GAUTENG
COMMENT, by Pete Bower
MAGAZINE
HOW TO MAKE YOUR PLOT PROFITABLE
Vol 16 No 10
October 2015
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FRONT COVER
. A calf licks
Not a loving act:
her mother’s coat to extract
salt, a much-needed mineral
for all livestock on dry winter grazing.
Back to nature
I
n a move that is being hailed as a step in the right direction by
many, the South African Dept of Agriculture has banned the
commercial sale of genetically modified potatoes.
The logic behind this move escapes us, given that South Africa has for
many years allowed and indeed encouraged the wholesale planting of genetically
modified maize. Both potatoes and maize are starchy staple foodstuffs, constituting a
significant part of the diets of most South Africans so why one should be banned and
the other encouraged seems a bit irrational.
Nevertheless, for the anti-GM lobby the move is seen as a victory and some are asking
whether other GM crops will be similarly outlawed.
For the fact is that there is something of a backlash movement developing worldwide
against anything that seeks to tamper with “natural” crops and growing methods.
Indeed, having gone so far down the line of allowing GM maize production, the South
African government finds itself out of step with international sentiment and is actually
now caught between a rock and a hard place. Given the amount of investment in GM
crops and the chemicals used to keep them healthy and weed-free (such as the
dreaded glyphosate pesticides) the government could hardly now do a volte face and
ban them.
What it could do, however, is take seriously the moves overseas to ban the wholesale
use of pesticides that are now being revealed as being carcinogenic and toxic in many,
many ways not originally intended.
Removing these poisons from the food production system would be seen by many as
doing something good for the wellbeing of the citizens of this country.
For, in truth, many of the supposed benefits of genetically modified crops in agriculture
have not been realised. They were supposed to yield more than conventional crops.
They haven't. They were supposed to lead to a reduction in the use of chemical inputs.
They haven't. In fact they've resulted in an increase in the use of toxic substances such
as glyphosate.
In truth the GM debate tends to generate more heat than light with many of those both
for and against not fully understanding the science behind genetic modification, or the
costs, benefits and dangers involved, or how genetic modification differs from longstanding hybridisation.
So the GM debate is hardly cut and dried, and is only one of a number of issues that
the government needs to bear in mind when overseeing South Africa's agriculture and
the food security of her people.
In one of these fields at least the government is making noteworthy progress, albeit
slowly, and that's in its plans to encourage smallholder agriculture among the previously
disadvantaged.
While this requires the expropriation of large tracts of land, a process that is slow and
painful, and politically fraught in itself, the establishment on their own lands of
thousands of otherwise impoverished citizens will go a long way towards upliftment of
families and communities. Provided, of course, the establishment of these families goes
hand in hand with the provision of the necessary infrastructural help in the form of
material such as fencing, piping and other inputs, as well as help with marketing and
distribution and, most crucially of all, suitable training and education.
In the overall scheme of things, it's easy to buy up an old farm, chop it up into smaller
bits and dish these out to families that have added their names to a waiting list. It's
much more difficult to identify the needs of these new farmers, both in terms of
infrastructure but also in terms of education e ь