Life
Africa could feed the planet
African agriculture is held back by Western scientific illiterates whose well-paid jobs involve frightening people about biotechnology.
African agriculture must play a major role in any viable solution.
Africa could also better feed itself by easing access to its markets and by promoting high-value crops. Such changes would need to be accompanied by improvements to the overall business environment in several African countries, namely improved property rights, more independent courts and greater accountability among government officials. The rest of the world could also make it easier for African farmers to enter their markets and link their products to global trade.
Many farmers remain wedded to primitive forms of agriculture that were hardly adequate in the 20th century, to say nothing of the 21st.
Then again, many of them have no choice. Their governments currently follow the woefully misguided example of European countries that refuse to accept biotechnology, including genetically modified crops.
