Thread by @bdowduribe

Sarah Evanega says “Farmers love GMOs” - Indeed many do. But many don’t. Which farmers do and don’t is important for the future of GM-related technologies, and who will benefit most from them. THREAD 1/

https://twitter.com/Sarah_Evanega/status/1468972888581545991

Supporters assert that GM seeds function the same for all farmers. In a recent presentation @Sarah_Evanega called GM seeds ‘scale-neutral’. But the evidence doesn’t support this claim - particularly in sub-Saharan Africa 2/

It must be stated clearly that there are many types of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa farming w/ different machinery, on diverse types of land, w differential access to land, credit, labor, inputs; + who operate in diverse social contexts 3/ e.g researchgate.net/publication/46…

Though GM supporters rhetorically target “smallholder farmers” the GM crops they produce end up supporting the most wealthy and capable among them. This is just what the empirical record shows us.
4/

This can happen due to a lack of attention to the institutions needed to support equitable GM crop adoption - see South Africa where supportive institutions crumbled leaving essentially no smallholder farmers growing GM cotton today. 5/ cottonsa.org.za/wp-content/upl…

In the largest GM crop introduction on the continent in Burkina Faso, for the most marginalized farmers, comprising almost 60% of all cotton farmers, “[GM] cotton has not been profitable and it increased the financial risk of cotton production.” 6/ cahiersagricultures.fr/articles/cagri…

In Ethiopia, commercial farmers appear to be the main beneficiaries since, for most other farmers, GM cotton “did not perform well enough compared to the cost of the seed, and they were not multiplied at a large scale.” 7/ agritrop.cirad.fr/597180/1/2020-… h/t @JoevaRock

I would love to see the framing of the conversation move from “Farmers love GMOs” to “A minority of relatively wealthy small farmers have achieved some bracketed benefits”. It may not be as pithy and sexy, but it is more reflective of reality. 8/

This reframe opens up space for debate + reflection, which is desperately needed if GM technologies are to have the possibility of boosting food security + alleviating poverty. Preemptively declaring a debate over signals an unwillingness to engage in such critical reflection FIN