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Looking thoroughly Monsanto’s report, there are many pages telling stories of how their genetically modified (G.M.) seeds have “saved” many countries in the world, especially South Africa. However, to what extent the claim is credible will be discussed by examining the following markets e.g. South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Europe and America.
On page 7 of the report, a story about how the G.M seeds helped Mary- a farmer in Malawi, Africa to “growing self-sufficiency through choice” was an excellent example. It described the amazing result that Mary had after using the G.M seeds was 200 bags of grain and she was able to feed her family through the year with it. The highlight of the story though was the part Mary made a choice of seeking hybrid seed again instead of going back using the saved seeds and the result was even more extraordinary, “her 2007 harvest was even bigger -260 bags” while her neighbour who used the seeds saved from previous year’s harvest had produced only ten bags from her farm. The story has showed the amazing quality of G.M seeds and how valuable they are to the African farmers, not just in term of reducing poverty but also increasing productivity. Is it so far so good? Let’s go back and question the part where Mary had to buy more G.M seeds in order to get that “amazing” result. Did it cost her nothing? And if it was, was it a reasonable price? Did the price stay the same? There is no certain that the price will always stay the same judging from Monsanto’s past and present practice on certain product such as Roundup products, a kind of G.M seeds that can resist its herbicides and hence a convenient way for farmers to spray fields with weed killers .This product price ...