Monsanto in Kenya

‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’
The Rockefeller Foundation seems to say, ‘If you want this fish, balance this ball on your nose.’
Genetically modified (GM) maize in Kenya will not planted until 2010 at the earliest because of revisions to safety regulations for the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa (IRMA) project. The project is a joint venture between the Kenyan government and international research institutes.
The revisions are intended to bring the project in line with national and international standards by giving greater attention to threats that the release of GM maize could pose to the environment and human health.
What threats are those?
The chemical resistant plants will allow commercial farmers to spray more insecticides, fungicides and herbicides on their crops. The genetically modified food doesn’t resist natural predators better – it stands up to heavier doses of chemicals used to kill pests.
Insects build up a resistance to these chemicals very quickly – plants eventually and fungus as well.
In the meantime any neighbor to a farmer using these biological monsters is sure to be eaten out of house and home – and find his land bought out from under him.
Kenyans have are revising safety standards relating to plant breeding, facilities and permits, and the social and economic implications of introducing GM maize to Kenyan farmers.
This work is expected to cost $6,670,000 during the next five years with the bulk of the funding coming from the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. Syngenta is a supplier of conventional and biotechnology crop protection and seed products. The Rockefeller Foundation is also a donor.
Joe DeVries of the Rockefeller Foundation said he hoped extra regulations would not slow the pace of the project. "It is clear that [this type of GM] maize has been tested and proven to work elsewhere hence there is no need for unnecessary regulations," he said.
Joe DeVries recently hosted a meeting called ‘Biotechnology, Breeding
and Seed Systems for African Crops’ in sunny Bellagio, Italy, over 3000 miles away from Kenya. At the resort were speakers from Scotland, Oregon University, the University of Georgia and - Rob Horsch, of Monsanto – a major donor to the universities and merchant of genetically modified seed and chemicals.
Whatever Joe DeVries is up to it seems that Monsanto and Syngenta will be raising a bumper crop in Kenya if he can bluff his way through.