Obama Africa Food Aid Plan Opens Door to Biggest Agribusiness Companies

Monday, May 21, 2012
A new plan forged by the Obama administration to help end hunger in Africa relies heavily on investments from large-scale agribusiness while disregarding contributions from organic and small farmers, critics contend.
 
President Barack Obama announced this week that it had garnered $3 billion in commitments from companies like DuPont, Monsanto and Cargill aimed at increasing food supplies to malnourished African regions.
 
Antipoverty advocates complained that relying on these producers was the wrong strategy.
 
Lamine Ndiaye of Oxfam said the objective of giant agribusiness “is not to fight against hunger; their objective is to make money.”
 
Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association, warnedthat  Obama’s belief that hunger can be alleviated through corporate investments was “misguided.”
 
“To help the world’s two billion small farmers and rural villagers survive and prosper we need to help them gain access, not to genetically engineered seeds and expensive chemical inputs; but rather access to land, water, and the tools and techniques of traditional, sustainable farming: non-patented open-pollinated seeds, crop rotation, natural compost production, beneficial insects, and access to local markets,” Cummins told Commons Dreams.
 
The stated goal of Obama’s food program is to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce the number of people worldwide living in poverty by 50 million over the next decade.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
To Learn More:
Campaigners Claim World Bank Helps Facilitate Land Grabs In Africa (by John Vidal and Claire Provost, The Guardian)

Hedge Funds Muscle into African Agriculture (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov) 

Comments

H Mullins 11 years ago
i want to correct a typo in my last post. my apologies for the mistypes - it should have read.... if the president wouldn't feed poisoned food to his own family and staff, then he should not ask the rest of america to eat it either. if any others struggle with this same game of russian roulette and happen to be able to have the luxery and ability to grow their own foods - i will leave this link to help in weeding out monsanto's gmo seeds from your possible selections. http://www.hawkeshealth.net/community/showthread.php?t=9375&highlight=heirloom+seeds don't wait till you or a family member becomes one of the many monsantos poisoning statistics,
H Mullins 11 years ago
as the hughey's posted "how much documentation do you need to prove that eating toxic chemicals that kills other animals is not a good thing? would you drink a cup of monsanto's roundup?!?! stop monsanto! stop gmo!" i don't need anymore documentation! nor do i need anymore doctor visits and medical problems due to the poisons of this companies business practices of buy offs in the fda and misdocumentations to safety hiding the truth of how dangerous their food products are. i became one of those statistics back in the 80's when monsanto's was illegally getting aspertame passed through the fda. now i am hypoglycemic. at the time i was also rendered temperarily infertile & hyperglycemic by aspertame. hypoglycemia is controled through dietary means of the need of a balanced diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegitables daily, as well as whole grains. with the wake of monsantos poisons and destruction to the foods that can end up on my food plate at home, that doesn't leave me much on my plate in the way of good nutritious foods for my necessary diet needs now does it. it's like playing russian roulette everytime i go shopping or prepare a meal. i wondered to myself if the white house garden grows monsantos foods in the way of genetically modified seeds. after viewing a youtube video on their presidential garden, i found out some of their vegetables are "heirloom vegetables" variety http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8paresbhle. therefor, i could probably safely presume there seeds aren't monsantos seeds from the numerous seed companies they bought up.i the president wouldn't feed poisoned food to his own family and staff, then he should ask the rest of america to eat it either. if any others struggle with this same game of russian roulette and happen to be able to have the luxery and ability to grow their own foods - i will leave this link to help in weeding out monsanto's gmo seeds from your possible selections. http://www.hawkeshealth.net/community/showthread.php?t=9375&highlight=heirloom+seeds don't wait till you or a family member becomes one of the many monsantos poisoning statistics,
Marshall and Christine Hughey 11 years ago
this is the worst possible news for africa. monsanto is pledging to bring their gmo corn to that continent as well as other genetically modified organisms. these foods are toxic and have pesticides and other chemicals infused within their changed dna. these foods will harm the people of africa, resulting in disease and death. we need to stop monsanto and stop gmo! find out about gmos and put an end to this crime against nature. when you eat monsanto "maize" or corn you are digesting insecticides in every bite. how much documentation do you need to prove that eating toxic chemicals that kills other animals is not a good thing? would you drink a cup of monsanto's roundup?!?! stop monsanto! stop gmo!

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