Ideas of progress and development should be seriously discussed. Such things like like the green revolution or the development panacea is what make rivers burn in taiwan, unbreathable air in china, diyng amazon here in Brazil, etc.
In africa, imperialism is trying to be fixed with imperialist ideas

Lucas Schuster de Souza, Porto Alegre, Brasil

we grow organic rice. We use hybrids that have high yield that are devoloped locally, and use hand plows and threshers and driers to make the work easier. Irrigation allows us to get two crops a year.

But our yields are not as good as those using less traditional methods. Why not encourage both?

Tioedong, Gapan City , Philippines

The worst thing about this is that the organic and 'traditional" farming movements are largely about aesthetics. So the Africans get to starve in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to Western tastes. Quaint local markets with traditional villiagers and their piles of hand pick produce.

Theresa, Tucson, USA

I'm afraid I don't share any of your values whatsoever. Human population growth can be exponential. Without starvation, war and disease the universe would soon be rapidly filled with human flesh.

keith, wigan, uk

If industry really wanted to help Africa it would have done so decades ago.
All it wants is to profit from its GM and pesticide sales , some of which are already banned in Europe.
GM crops have already been shown to have a lower yield than conventional crops. Natural is the way
www.gmwatch.org

Sue, London,

King is right. The world is entitled to enjoy the benefits of technological and scientific progress. Instead, from our cities with clean water, ample food and power, hospitals and supermarkets, cars and computers, we impose perpetual precarious subsistence on bushmen, eskimos and jungle dwellers.

Dick Atkinson, South Shields, UK

The baleful influence of Spiked online is at work here.

Louis, London,

Dear Lindy, Rhayader, Wales
<br/>
<br/>Stay in a village in southern Africa (say, Zimbabwe or Malawi) for a few days, see how poor people and their soils are, and it might change your mind about their having access to a little fertilizer.

Mike Listman, Rexcoco, Mexico

The "green" revolution merely served to cause worse population overshoot. Should Africa adopt a more or less sustainable approach at this juncture? I expect more people will ultimately starve if the unsustainable approach is taken.

Pete, Seattle, USA

well you know one thing you can do is leave africans alone and let them make up their own minds as to how they want to run their lives and businesses, instead of forcing them to live in your own "progressive" dreams of the year 3000. that certainly isn't any better than keeping them in the 1600s.

jon, cape cod, ma, us

Do the wealth sodden Arab nations care about anything or anyone--- Do they have opinions on Climate change and poverty-- DO THEY CARE?

Maggie S, wareham, UK

I see where David King is coming from - low and intermediate tech are being pushed at the expense of GM and high tech. But there are 2 sides to this. If GM is pushed, then farmers will be forced to buy seeds where previously they have saved them. Fertilizers have economic and environmental downsides

Lindy, Rhayader, Wales

The "greenies" like to use science like a bludgeon when it's in their favor, and reject it as unnatural when it's not. They place their "Ideals" before humanity, and hope to take us all back to "hunter - gatherer" days.

Jame Morrison, LA, US

Sir David King is right. It is Western liberalism that has destroyed African nations for decades. Do you see any of them running to African nations wanting to promote modern technological agriculture techniques. Traditional faming methods don't feed starving African children.

Umah, Atlanta, USA

The reality of the "progressive" agenda: Keep the 3rd World poor and dependant, like it's supposed to be.

Can you imagine a world where Africa was self-sufficient, or worse, even affluent? Thousands of NGO-crats having to find real jobs. They can't risk that happening.

John, Atlanta, GA, USA

We are living in a post scientific era. People spend billions on alternative therapies that are known not to work. They ascribe nonsensical benefits to organic farming - and even if these benefits were true they are undone by the fact you need more land due to lower yields. Science is dead.

len, oxford,

So biofuels arent to blame for pushing up world food prices and causing famine? Trade restrictions on African farmers. Billions of dollars in subsidies paid to US Farmers to create further poverty in developing countries? Must be the green activists then

David, London, UK

Do any of you actually know the mechanics of genetic modification?

Anti-biotic resistance is used as the marker in EVERY case of genetic modification.

Read that again & think, think about evolution and the minute changes to occur over generations & if you want anti-biotic resistance in the mix

Garth, Australia,

Lynn: The writer from Scarsdale is correct about buying new seeds every year (especially for corn): Monsanto (90% of the GM corn seed market) is very aggressive against farmers and mills who infringe on their lawful patents.

Dan Schwartz, Sayreville, NJ, US of A

Sorry, but regardless of how good the intentions are, traditional farming methods will not feed a starving continent. And when the West has to spend billions of dollars buying and shipping emergency food shipments to Africa, we all suffer - from additional pollution and higher prices.

Terry, Chicago, USA

The gentleman from Scarsdale is a prime example of Sir David's argument. NO FARMER in the modern Western world, using GM or not, plants seed from his last year's crop. He buys fresh seeds with known yield characteristics. Why? Look it up in a book on farming. Ignorant romanticism kills.

LT

Lynn Turk, Mission Viejo, CA

For the 'West' in this article read the EU. It is here that the ranting anti-GM lobby has been most powerful, and it is EU influence in Africa that has held back GM use there.

Michael Longridge, there is of course NO scientific evidence against GM. I agree, funding for the seed should be aided.

Stephen Fox, Oxford, UK

At last, someone speaks truth to Green power. Too long has the Green monolith ground out all opposition to its unscientific Ludditeism. To salve your privileged western conscience by paying over the odds for useless "organic" produce is one thing, to impoverish Africa further is criminal.

Stephen, London,

What's wrong with subsistance farming? What's wrong is that with rising temperatures subsistance farming in Africa will be impossible in a few years. Sir David is right, because he realises that adaptation to climate change is every bit as important as mitigation. GM technology can feed millions.

Aaron, London, UK

This is an interesting, but incredibly biased story. There is no mention that "modern agricultural technology methods", including pesticides and fertilizers that depend on the petroleum industry, and GM crops that need to be purchased every year, are expensive. US farmers are in debt to big business

Megan , Southampton, UK

When the GM products are offered for free, and have been found to be truly safe (not safe according to the study bought by the GM co.s), then I'd recommend it, too.

What's wrong with subsistence farming, that allows Africans to DIRECTLY benefit from their effort? It's a basis on which to build.

Dan, Portland, United States

Sir David King is a staunch lobbyist for the GM industry. What else is he going to say ? He is no longer in government for this reason and it is shocking that he can twist scientific evidence for multinational propaganda. Big Oil and big GM are destroying the planet while puppets like King applaud.

Michael Longridge, Oxford, UK

This is what the radical environmentalists wish on us all. They are also against any form of energy for one reason or another. Sooner or later they will be recognized for what they are -Luddites.

Kevin Finnerty, Atlanta, USA

Genetically modified crops are generally patented, which means that farmers are bound to purchase the seeds for planting each year, rather than use seeds from the previous crop. This often leads to insurmountable debts for farmers, increasing with each passing year

E. Sharp, Scarsdale, NY

It is parallel and contemporaneous with the "greenie" Western-influenced objection to DDT. Before Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" which lamented DDT's effects on nascent bird shells, worldwide mortality from malaria was about 200,000. With Western opposition, fatalities are now approx. 2,000,000

Stanley Austin,M.D., Anchorage, U.S.A.