Ideology at first, now a supply chain problem

There is an article on Guardian's environmental website that states that the rise of organic farming and anti-GM food attitude is causing hunger in Africa.  It claims that African farmers are converting to low-intensity organic farming thus cannot produce enough food for Africa's own people.  It also advocates that African countries should learn from China and India who have managed to provide enough food for large populations through adopting modern agriculture technology.

I remember when I first came to UK I discussed with my tutor the argument around GM crops.  I said there was no perceivable attitude against GM food in China, and he was a bit surprised.  It is understandable as he was concerned about potential harm of GM crops to native species.  The assessment of risk and research on GM crops has progressed a lot since then.  GM food nowadays is accepted inside the EU after being strictly assessed.  Yet it is sad that GM food -- even after proved not harmful to local gene pool -- is still considered inferior to organic farming products and suitable only for the hungry people.

The fact that prople are "modifying" the gene of crops by selection since there is civilisation and why scientists tried to develop GM crops in the first place connote that GM crops has some desirable traits that worth promoting.  The idea is just being demonised for too long that people forgot what was the purpose of GM food to begin with.  In fact GM crops can deliver products that one cannot tell from "organic" food at larger quantities and reasonable fertiliser/pesticide use level.  The image of "Frankenstein crops" hampered the popularity and adopting of GM crops.  In this Risk Society, the disbelief and self-contradiction of plural sciences has costed people the chance to reduce famine, although they may also stopped ecological disasters.

It may help if the public relationship of GM crops can be improved.  Yet the really interesting and annoying question is now that Europe with surplus food is turning to organic farming, why Africa with a large population in hunger follows suit?  And people argue that what we really have is not a production problem, but rural development problem.

This pattern perhaps illustrates the direction of flow in globalisation: the worry about GM food is expanding from Europe to Africa, whose agricultural products is being imported into Europe.  With the European's favour of organic food, it would not be fair to ask Africans to plant GM food to feed themselves, as doing so will weaken African products' competition with European agricultural products at an already twisted price level.  The hunger problem, if has to be solved by GM food, also needs people in developed world make a choice in favour of those neglected food and their producers.