Somaliland Waa Inay Aad Uga Taxadirtaa Siidhka(Seeds) Qiimihiisu Dhan Yahay $2 million dollar

[raula]

Wiil Cusub;975189 wrote:

But patented issue is only for rich countries. Pakistan and Idea re produce so many patented medicines, china copied every thing from those who come with blue print of their prototypes for cheap industrialization. Why should Africa worried for patent rights.

Rich countries indeed have patent wars but those multinational companies are holding the local farmers (& hence the whole agriculture-& for all that's concerned the food chain) by the throat/hostage-by suing farmers that neglect to use their seeds (watch Food Inc., this is just a start..)-those that fight, end up loosing not only the battle, but their livelihoods due to litigation costs (millions), or settle out of court.

 

***I joked once when Dr. Osman posted Puntland's farmland & Machinery & said hopefully you follow Monsanto regulations or your are screwed. The truth is that the patent is not in the minds of the local somali/geeljire farmer, but due to the dependency of the farmer towards the seeds every growth season is problematic & not cost effective (compared to the old ways of using previous harvested seeds to replant). Ok, its a known fact that also companies like MONSANTO also manufactures herbicides/pesticides like RoundUP; as research indicates that such products pollute not only the environment, but as well pose health risks (because crops fed to the domestic livestock can lead to resistance to antibiotics & other health issues. As well as GMO foods reduce the nutritious value of our foods), & our waterways. Those herbicides as well lead to super resistant weeds that wipe out local plant lives & eventually destabilize the local ecosystems during flood/rain seasons.

 

So, yes we have issues (drought, famine, lack of security)..laakin should we even stagnate the local economies by making them even more dependent on the "foreign aid"? How can we ever sustain ourselves if we are can't realize the big picture (dependency vs. self-determination/liberty/sovereignty) ?

[raula]

PS: i didn't know "Siidhka" is also somali, waxaan uu aqane mire?

[Carafaat]

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/jun/24/gm-crops-african-farmers

 

 

GM crops won't help African farmers

The UK's environment minister says GM crops will help combat hunger in developing countries. But Owen Paterson is wrong

 

Farmers sow seeds in Ethiopia. 'Farmers in Africa already have effective approaches to seed and agriculture

 

Last week we heard that Owen Paterson, the UK's environment minister, is claiming that GM crops are necessary to help address hunger in developing countries, and that it would be immoral for Britain not to help developing countries to take up GM. Millions of small-scale farmers in Africa would disagree. African farmers and civil society have repeatedly rejected GM crops, and asked their governments to ban them.

 

Paterson does not appear to understand the complex realities and challenges of farming in Africa. Nor does he seem to grasp the limitations of GM crops. He fails to recognise that farmers in Africa already have effective approaches to seed and agriculture, which are far more environmentally and farmer-friendly than GM. Most of all, he fails to acknowledge the devastating impact that GM crops will have on African farmers and farming systems.

 

In the UK, Africa is often talked about as a failing continent where the hungry apparently wait around for northern benefactors to save us. Talk of Africa seems to imply that we have little or no food production, that our farmers are clueless, our seed unproductive. We won't go into how patronising and insulting this attitude is. Instead, we will focus on how this failure to acknowledge African farming systems and seed is being used to wipe them out.

 

Traditional African farming systems have developed an incredible diversity of seed varieties, which are able to deal with the multiple challenges of farming. Seed breeding is a complex art, and scientists who really listen and engage will realise that African farmers have a vast amount of ecological knowledge. Having many different types of seed – bred for their flavours and better nutrition, and which have evolved with local pests and diseases and are adapted to different soils and weather patterns – is a far better strategy of resilience than developing a single crop that is bound to fail in the face of climate change.

 

It is a myth that the green revolution has helped poor farmers. By pushing just a few varieties of seed that need fertilisers and pesticides, agribusiness has eroded our indigenous crop diversity. It is not a solution to hunger and malnutrition, but a cause. If northern governments genuinely wish to help African agriculture, they should support the revival of seed-saving practices, to ensure that there is diversity in farmers' hands.

 

But GM crops pose an even greater threat to Africa's greatest wealth. GM companies make it illegal to save seed. We have seen that farmers in North America whose crop was cross-pollinated by GM pollen have been sued by the GM company. About 80% of African small-scale farmers save their seed. How are they supposed to protect the varieties they have developed, crossed and shared over generations from GM contamination? This will be a disaster for them.

 

Paterson refers to the use of GM cotton in India. But he fails to mention that GM cotton has been widely blamed for an epidemic of suicides among Indian farmers, plunged into debt from high seed and pesticide costs, and failing crops.

 

Paterson also refers to the supposed potential of GM crops developed to be drought-tolerant. These crops are not yet on the market, and we don't know if they ever will be. The only two varieties of GM that have been sold in the past 15 years are resistant to a particular type of pest and a particular type of herbicide. Ask farmers if stalk borers or weeds are a cause of hunger in Africa, and they will laugh at you.

 

Instead of waiting for expensive GM solutions that may never arrive – and will ruin us if they do – we have worked with communities who were able to produce surplus food in times of drought by returning to their traditional varieties. A long-term study (pdf) in Ethiopia showed that crops fare much better in an environment where soil and water is conserved in composted land than on land that is pumped full of fertiliser and imported seeds. Communities increasingly understand that modern seeds often fail in these times of changing climates and unpredictable weather. The only way to ensure real food security is to support farmers to revive their seed diversity and healthy soil ecology.

 

As Esther Bett, a farmer from Eldoret in Kenya, said last week: "It seems that farmers in America can only make a living from GM crops if they have big farms, covering hundreds of hectares, and lots of machinery. But we can feed hundreds of families off the same area of land using our own seed and techniques, and many different crops. Our model is clearly more efficient and productive. Mr Paterson is wrong to pretend that these GM crops will help us at all."

 

• Million Belay is co-ordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. Ruth Nyambura is advocacy officer of the African Biodiversity Network, which last year co-released the film Seeds of freedom

[dhugfe]

Carafaat;975152 wrote:

Wiil Cusub,

 

My biggest concern on GMO food is not related to the health concerns(risk on cancer). But on the prospect of the seeds being intellectual property and thus pattented by large multinationals. This could in turn make the food sector a monopoly of large firms, much like the pharmaceutical sector.

 

To give you an example: Imagine I want to plant mais or tomatoes. You buy the seeds from a large corporation and then you harvest the mais or tomatoes. The problem starts when you want to use the seeds of the plants you harvest. These gmo plants have been geneticly modified and do not contain seeds you can use to plant again. This will force you to buy new seeds from the multinational. This will literly create a monopoly on the food chain.

 

This isnt an issue for the rich countries but specially for countries in Africa. Just like the pattent on medicine is an issue for these countries and less for the west.

1++++

[dhugfe]

Coofle;975217 wrote:

Siidh laga bixiyay lacag dhan 2 Million.....Rule number, Hadii la beero , Midhaha soo baxaa mar labaad lama sii beeri karo oo waxa lagu qasbanyahay in dib loo soo iibsado siidh cusub --rule number 1 , waana siyaasad ganacsi.

 

Ta inoo taalaa waxa ay tahay in beeralayda la baro sidii ay uga faa'idaysan lahaayeen Siidhkan.

 

This is like the first time your friend introduces you to weed/jaad/cigarette/balwad in general, they pay for the first few times and when you are hooked you start supplying the chain.....this means our agriculture after few years will be dependent on modified seeds, that we will join the global seed market.

True there is a financial side to this, but also i would add that those GMOs litteraly changes the soil ecological balance making it harder to plant organic seeds again. it is a vicious cycle of both financial and biological dependency that is hard to break.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

raula;975248 wrote:

PS: i didn't know "Siidhka" is also somali, waxaan uu aqane mire?

Seed waa abuur. Mire waa fruitka iyo lafaha ku dhex jiro, usually the larger ones. There is a slight difference between mire iyo abuur.

[raula]

^^ma saas baa thx

[Blessed]

raula;975248 wrote:

PS: i didn't know "Siidhka" is also somali, waxaan uu aqane mire?

It's lazy writing, shiidhka af Somaali maaha.. local word is iniin / iniiyo for grains or seeds. There's also midho and laf (in the case of Canbe laf).

 

The issue facing local farmers is lack of financial support and training.

[raula]

great thx Blessed. MMA-now that i remember, I only knew abuur as planting, but good to know there is another meaning of it.

[Saxansaxo]

raula;975247 wrote:

Rich countries indeed have patent wars but those multinational companies are holding the local farmers (& hence the whole agriculture-& for all that's concerned the food chain) by the throat/hostage-by suing farmers that neglect to use their seeds (watch Food Inc., this is just a start..)-those that fight, end up loosing not only the battle, but their livelihoods due to litigation costs (millions), or settle out of court.

 

***I joked once when Dr. Osman posted Puntland's farmland & Machinery & said hopefully you follow Monsanto regulations or your are screwed. The truth is that the patent is not in the minds of the local somali/geeljire farmer, but due to the dependency of the farmer towards the seeds every growth season is problematic & not cost effective (compared to the old ways of using previous harvested seeds to replant). Ok, its a known fact that also companies like MONSANTO also manufactures herbicides/pesticides like RoundUP; as research indicates that such products pollute not only the environment, but as well pose health risks (because crops fed to the domestic livestock can lead to resistance to antibiotics & other health issues. As well as GMO foods reduce the nutritious value of our foods), & our waterways. Those herbicides as well lead to super resistant weeds that wipe out local plant lives & eventually destabilize the local ecosystems during flood/rain seasons.

 

So, yes we have issues (drought, famine, lack of security)..laakin should we even stagnate the local economies by making them even more dependent on the "foreign aid"? How can we ever sustain ourselves if we are can't realize the big picture (dependency vs. self-determination/liberty/sovereignty) ?

Well said.