Title: Living the promise? The role of the private sector in enabling small-scale farmers to benefit from agro-biotech

Authors: Diane Osgood

Addresses: Ecological Economist, Independent Consultant, France

Abstract: Biotechnology and transgenetic crops (tGMOs) hold great promises as part of integrated solutions for poor and small-scale farmers. The private sector, which to date controls most releases of tGMOs globally, has combined philanthropy and commercialisation to this end. Yet few benefits have materialised. This narrative paper surveys and provides a framework for how multinational companies transfer tGMOs. It analyses the companies| limitations, including internal incentives, indemnity and intellectual property rights. Silver bullets do not work in farming, and the analysis concludes there is a need for more systemic approaches and public-private partnerships to improve the lives of struggling farmers.

Keywords: GMOs; tGMOs; transgenetic crops; private sector; intellectual property rights; indemnity; small scale farmers; public private partnerships; philanthropy; incentives; genetically modified crops; GM crops; developing countries; genetic modification; multinational corporations; agricultural biotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTG.2006.009125

International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, 2006 Vol.2 No.1/2, pp.30 - 45

Published online: 03 Mar 2006 *

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