In Zanzibar Islands, Tanzania, farmers and their families are going to bed hungry almost every day. “We requested the government to train us on how to improve our productivity,” said farmer Ally Othman Ally, “but they have failed even to deliver extension services.” (Shoo, 2014). With farmers hardly making enough food for their own families, they have little to no income. Ally Othman has been focusing all her energy on trying to feed her family, and fears that she may not even be able to make ends meet by the end of the year, and she’s not alone. “I’m worried,” said 43 year old farmer Hafidh Anuar. “The harvest this year is so poor that we may not be able to reimburse the government.” (Shoo,2014).
Tanzania, going through the worst drought in its history, needs to find a solution before it's too late. There has been much discussion about what to do in order to feed the people of Tanzania, and many scientists are asking the many small, local farmers to try genetically modified crops. Because of the drought, many of the farmers in Tanzania have had their crops die, due to the lack of water. And, because “80% of the people in Tanzania live by subsistence agriculture” (SCHMICKLE, 2013), this issue needs to be addressed very soon.
Many scientists are already working on genetically modified crops, This includes things like insect/drought resistant crops. Although GM crops have been proven successful before this (considering most corn in the US is already genetically modified), a “strict liability” rule in Tanzania has caused no one to dare use GM crops to feed the hungry people. There is a large possibility that this will change in the near future.
A new project has been created throughout Africa, but is currently only being implemented in five different African countries, which includes Tanzania. It is called the WATER Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project, maize meaning corn (History of Tazania). Even though Tanzania is in the project, because of the regulations they adopted in 2009, the GM-crops cannot be used. The lead institution for the project, the AATF, will be able to develop drought-tolerant and pest protected crops, thanks to Monsanto. Monsanto donated these genes for free, and for many anti-GMO activists, this will never be acceptable solely because of Monsanto's involvement, although from the farmers’ point of view, their governments are hardly taking notice of the issue.
As for the GMO supporters, this could be the best thing to possibly happen in order to address the food insecurity issue in Tanzania. Supporters claim that since Tanzania's population is growing so rapidly, the only solution would be to use these GM-crops. "What all farmers want is to produce more with less," said Brandon Mitchener, Monsanto public affairs head in Europe, the Mideast and Africa. "They have a finite amount of land, they have a finite amount of resources, and they want to get the maximum yield from their land with the seed and the water and the manpower they have to farm that land." (Shoo, 2014). If farmers can’t make enough crops (and money) for their families, then the argument of it being genetically modified or not won’t matter.
At the moment, the farmers in Tanzania are claiming that their government isn't supporting their needs in order to produce enough crops (mainly rice) for their families. The deputy general secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources stated that "“We have supported smallholder farmers with improved seeds, provided them with loans, and delivered ... technical training to some of them,” (Shoo, 2014), but many farmers need more. Up until very recently, the government hasn't been able to give farmers what they needed, since they also have to give many/resources to other prevalent issues like schools and health care. Recently, Tanzania's government has improved their distribution of improved rice seed, and said it now serves about 70 percent of the farmers’ needs, although this still isn’t enough. The government may be providing enough seeds, but that doesn’t stop the rapidly developing drought issues all around Tanzania. Farmers’ crops are dying, and right now the only solution we know of is the drought-resistant crops. Many families are still going to bed hungry, and need some major changes in their country to occur in order to survive.
How Much Longer?
Tanzanian farmers need answers
By: Zane Shaw
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