Genetically modified crops and small-scale farmers: main opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Although some important features of genetically modified (GM) crops such as insect-resistance, herbicide-tolerance and drought-tolerance might seem beneficial to small-scale farmers, the adoption of GM technology by smallholders is still slight. Identifying pros and cons of using this technology is important to understand the impacts of GM crops on these farmers. This article reviews the main opportunities and challenges of GM crops for small-scale farmers in developing countries. The most significant advantages of GM crops include being independent to farm size, environment protection, improvement of occupational health issues, and the potential of bio-fortified crops to reduce malnutrition. Challenges faced by small-scale farmers for adoption of GM crops comprise availability and accessibility of GM crops seeds, seeds dissemination and price, and lack of adequate information. In addition, R&D and production costs in using GM crops make it difficult for these farmers to adopt these crops. Moreover, intellectual property rights regulations may deprive resource poor farmers from the advantages of GM technology. Finally, concerns on socio-economic and environment safety issues are also addressed in this paper.

A World without Hunger: Organic or GM Crops?

“…Many resource-poor farmers do not even have access to hybrid maize because of the cost of seeds, let alone GM. According to Azadi et al (2016) [18], the challenges faced by small-scale farmers in the adoption of GM crops are comprised of the availability and accessibility of GM crop seeds, seed dissemination, and price, as well as the lack of adequate information. It seems clear that GM technology has not been designed with an initial goal of assisting poor farmers but is mainly to boost industrial agriculture, which is not the case in many developing countries yet.…”

“…It seems clear that GM technology has not been designed with an initial goal of assisting poor farmers but is mainly to boost industrial agriculture, which is not the case in many developing countries yet. Nevertheless, if public-private sectors are engaged from the creation up to marketing stages of these crops, they may have the potential to be considered as an alternative for some farmers after careful selection of the targeted crop and farmers and the establishment of local legislations [18]. Given that there are relatively few farmers in Europe and that their productivity, even without GM, is relatively high compared to that of developing countries (European farmers are able to afford mechanization, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to raise productivity), the economic cost to Europe of banning GM is mostly in the form of modestly higher prices for some foods.…”

“…There is also a growing body of literature showing the positive impacts of GM crops in relation to food security and poverty reduction [5,18]. A good example in this regard can be found in India, where Qaim and Kouser (2013) [69] analysed the food security impacts of GM crops at the micro-scale.…”

“…In response to the concerns over agricultural biotechnology, many researchers have strongly advocated OF [16][17][18]. OF, as a holistic production system that aims to produce food with minimal harm to ecosystems, animals or humans, is the most prominent alternative farming system and is often proposed as a solution for more sustainable agriculture [19].…”

Food Systems and Natural Resources

“…possible allergies), ecological damage (due to the spread of GM genes to organic crops and wild relatives), the development of herbicide-resistant weeds, and the over-use of herbicides, impacting groundwater quality. Beside these biophysical reasons, critical questions are raised whether smallholder farmers would benefit from GM-crops (Azadi et al, 2015, Jacobsen et al, 2013. Opponents also state that the development of GM crops is done by a small number of companies, who make large profits on GM crops.…”