May 10, 2001 -
Grassroots innovator -
The Economist, Dec 6th 2001, Richard
Jefferson wants to change the face of agriculture, by putting
innovation back into the hands of farmers. CATCH him on a good day
and Richard Jefferson will play you some bluegrass on his guitar. He
keeps a large collection of antique instruments, and often travels
to conferences with a laptop in one hand and a mandolin in the
other. Yet get him to talk about his professional interest,
agricultural biotechnology, and Dr Jefferson's tune becomes more sombre. He points to the 780m people in the developing world who are
suffering from malnutrition—a large proportion of them farmers who
cannot grow, or sell, enough to make ends meet. Science will not
solve their problems, says Dr Jefferson. But biotech could help them
to improve their lot. The biotech he has in mind, however, is not
the sort that agribusiness has perfected—the “Round-up Ready”
soybeans or “Bt” maize (corn) that have been genetically engineered
with Iowa in mind, not sub-Saharan Africa...
Archive
of Environmental News - May
2001