www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Biotech industries need to start ?swimming upstream? by soliciting the
assistance of the public sector if they need their products to reach poor
and small-scale farmers. This was concluded by ecological economist Diane
Osgood, in ?Living the Promise?

The Role of the Private Sector in Enabling Small-Scale Farmers to Benefit
from Agro-Biotech.? Her article appears in a special issue of the Journal of
Technology and Globalization.

Osgood examines three trends that have pushed the private sector to find
ways to transfer agricultural biotechnology to farmers in developing
countries. These are: the continuing pressure on companies in Europe to
produce products which are either free from biotech crops, or stringently
assessed for safety; the focus of agricultural research on big market crops
such as corn and rice, while generally ignoring smaller cash crops; and the
policies and business habits of multinational companies.

The public sector, the author believes, can provide the link between the
desire of the private sector to extend a helping hand, and the needs of
small-scale farmers. ?Farmers need integrated solutions, not silver
bullets,? Osgood writes, ?[Private companies] need small-scale farmers to
overcome many of the major constraints they face?companies have a strong
incentive to work in partnership with the public sector to deliver more
holistic approaches that address daily problems.?

Read the abstract of the paper at
[www.inderscience.com]
uery=&ps=10&m=or.

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