“At the time of decolonization in the 1960s, Africa was not just self-sufficient in food but was actually a net food exporter, its exports averaging 1.3 million tons a year between 1966-70,” Walden Bello reports in his guerrillanews.com article, “Destroying African Agriculture.

“Today, the continent imports 25% of its food, with almost every country being a net food importer. Hunger and famine have become recurrent phenomena, with the last three years alone seeing food emergencies break out in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Southern Africa, and Central Africa.” 

Furthermore, corporations associated with the WTO, IMF and World Bank through free trade commitments, are targeting lush, fertile African countries to promote the planting of Genetically Modified seeds. Commondreams.org reports on the current situation, highlighting the plight of South African farmers who are being pushed, through non-information and monetary incentives, to begin switching from sustainable farming techniques (taught to them by Valley Trust, a local non-profit) to GM seed practices.

“Rural farmers are often lured into planting GM seeds by the Department of Agriculture by promises of substantial bank loans and the prospect of huge earnings,” Kristin Palitza writes in her article, “South Arican Small Farmers Pushed to Plant GM Seeds.”

“But in the end,” Palitza quotes Valley Trust food security facilitator Nhlanhla Vezi, “most farmers end up in huge debt, because they can’t save seeds and are obliged to buy the matching GM fertilisers and pesticides.” (Read the full aricle here!)

Learn more about GMOs and their contribution to the global food crisis here.

Sustainable farming, development, and environmenal measures were all issues at the heart of the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests. See live footage of the 40,000+ protesters in Stuart Townsend’s debut film, Battle in Seattle.