Honest Mhungu
The green revolution is the misleading name given to a chemical-based agricultural model that was introduced to India in 1965.
Following World War II, chemical companies and factories were searching desperately for new markets for synthetic fertilisers made in the explosives factories of the war.
The people of the global south have been victims of such militarized agriculture initiatives justifying profit-making at the expense of human life, which is a good example of “necro capitalism”, a term invented by Achille Mbembe. The exponential rate of GMOs and intensive use of synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and various emerging agricultural “cides’ have caused so much harm than good in Africa and the developing world.
Growing data from across the world increasingly urge the world to cease ignoring the resultant hazardous and life-threatening costs of ever-increasing poisons in our food system.
The false narrative perpetuated by the green revolution is essential in understanding the dominant narrative that has been created around food production and agriculture.
Genetic engineering creates an entirely new category of pollution on our planet, negatively impacting plants and animals, human health, and the livelihoods of farmers and communities. Pesticides in agriculture and food are killing consumers, children and biodiversity. This explains both their effectiveness and their toxic potential.
These pesticides, even in minuscule quantities, can damage the nervous system and hence can cause chronic neuropsychiatric disorders.
In India, The Navdanya report ‘Poisons in Our Food’ shows that there is a clear link between disease epidemics like cancer and the consumption of genetically modified foods and the usage of pesticides in agriculture.
In Punjab, the land of the so-called green revolution where large amounts of pesticides are used daily, the cancer rate is disproportionately high.
The devastating effects of poison on the human diet are far-reaching.
A Sri Lankan study found links between the increasing use of glyphosate (used under the Monsanto brand Roundup Ready) and kidney disease, which has affected 400 000 farmers and killed twenty thousand in the last twenty years.
Exposure of bees and butterflies to pesticides can also disrupt their reproduction and development. Pollinators are an essential natural service provided to farmers, and without their existence, our very food security is under threat.
Yet bees and butterflies, which are essential food producers, are being killed by the arsenal of poisons that form the basis of industrial agriculture. The only beneficiaries of GMO crops are corporations, because of the increased opportunities to sell more toxic chemicals.
As a matter of fact, corporations’ greed and desire to own seeds is the only reason why GMOs are being pushed undemocratically into food and farming systems across the world. In April 2014 Russia banned the import of any GMO products, with its prime minister Dmitry Medvedev commenting, “if the Americans like to eat GMO products, let them eat it then. We don’t need to do that; we have enough space and opportunities to produce organic food”.
Namibians need to understand that the main goal of corporates is to make profits and that an immediate tough stance to ban all genetically modified foods that are a threat to the survival of humanity is very crucial. Before the industrial agriculture revolution, we have seen that there are poison-free ways of farming that are not only possible but successful.
Breaking out of the poison cycle is crucial for the protection of human, animal and plant health and biodiversity, which are under threat from GMOs and the high usage of pesticides. Africa, let’s wake up.