Opinion: Bill Gates Wrong on Genetically Modified Foods for Africa

A South African agricultural consultant argues in a Seattle Times column that Bill Gates’s “technocratic” approach to battling hunger, including touting genetically modified foods, runs counter to scientific consensus on boosting farm production in developing countries.

Glenn Ashton, a researcher who works with grass-roots African agriculture groups, cites the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, a three-year World Bank/United Nations study involving 900 scientists, which concluded that industrial farming and genetically modified crops would not meaningfully increase yields.

The study instead recommended greater reliance on “agro-ecological” methods involving traditional seed varieties and centuries-old farming practices more attuned to the African ecology.

Mr. Gates last week criticized U.N. food agencies for eschewing a more technological approach to increasing food production and reiterated his call for greater production of genetically modified foods.