Florence Wambugu: feed the world
Florence Wambugu: feed the world
In Canada, genetically modified food may spark safety worries. But Florence Wambugu, the founder of Africa Harvest, a nonprofit biotechnology research group with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, has a different view. "Who are people in the developed world to tell those in Africa that using genetic techniques to increase crop production is wrong, when they have full bellies every day?" she asks. "A mother who has not seen her children eat for days would not question the ethics of making crops more productive."
"Africa is in crisis," continues Florence. "With rising food costs, population growth and water shortages, more productive plants are imperative to the survival of millions." According to the United Nations, more than 14 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, countries in the grip of a prolonged drought, depend on food aid.
Florence is no stranger to their plight. Born in Kenya in 1953, the sixth of 10 children, she grew up on a small subsistence farm. After her father's death, there was often no food to go around. So it was an extraordinary gamble when, braving village criticism, Florence's mother sold the family's single asset -- their cow -- in order to send her daughter to high school. Florence went on to take degrees in zoology and botany in Nairobi, the U.S. and the U.K.
Cultivating knowledge for more bountiful harvests
In 2002 she founded Africa Harvest, and has so far helped more than half a million farmers increase their output. "After seeing my community struggling and knowing what sacrifices my mother made to educate me, I wanted to go back and help make their lives easier," she says.
"New strains of grains needing less water, or that are nutritionally fortified, can cushion against natural disasters by helping farmers harvest even a small crop when conditions are dire. Food aid produced in other countries is not a viable long-term solution when 80 per cent of the Kenyan workforce is employed in agriculture."
Canada is actually a big supporter of biotechnology research in Africa. Africa Harvest has partnered with Canadian company Performance Plants Inc. to develop drought-resistant white maize, a project that aims to be ready for production by 2011. CIDA contributed more than $3.1 million to the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, and the Canada Fund for Africa has donated $30 million to the International Livestock Research Institute, based in Kenya.
New plants for a new future
In one project, Africa Harvest distributes banana seedlings. Banana plants are normally propagated by taking small suckers from an existing tree, resulting in the new plants having the same diseases and pests as the old. Africa Harvest uses tissue culture technology (feeding a tiny piece of a banana shoot with hormones) to produce fresh plants, under sterile conditions, and break the cycle of infestation. The plants can mature earlier and produce more fruit.
Josephine Mjuki Gituar is more than 70 years old and has benefitted hugely from these new plants. Her five-acre farm supports her, her son, his family of four and three grandchildren. "I bought 100 tissue culture seedlings three years ago and all of them are still alive and producing," she says. "My old banana plants used to die off from a fungal disease and there were never enough to sell, only enough to eat now and then."
"Now," says Josephine, "I have money to invest back into the farm -- last year I bought a water-storage tank and was able to pay my grandchildren's school fees. We have never had security like this before."
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