Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:49:26.485Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Understanding the potential impact of transgenic cropsin traditional agriculture: maize farmers’ perspectives in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2006

Daniela Soleri ,
David A. Cleveland ,
Flavio Aragón C. ,
Mario R. Fuentes L. ,
Humberto Ríos L.  and
Stuart H. Sweeney
Daniela Soleri
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program and Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2302 Girvetz Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
David A. Cleveland
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program and Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2302 Girvetz Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
Flavio Aragón C.
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Campo Experimental Valles Centrales, Melchor Ocampo No. 7, Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo, Etla, Oaxaca, México
Mario R. Fuentes L.
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Agrícolas (ICTA), ICTA 231, 01064 Villa Nueva, Guatemala
Humberto Ríos L.
Affiliation:
Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (INCA), San José de Las Lajas, La Habana, Cuba, CP 32700, GP#1
Stuart H. Sweeney
Affiliation:
Geography Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, 3611 Ellison Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Genetically engineered transgenic crop varieties (TGVs) have spread rapidly in the last 10 years, increasingly to traditionally-based agricultural systems (TBAS) of the Third World both as seed and food. Proponents claim they are key to reducing hunger and negative environmental impacts of agriculture. Opponents claim they will have the opposite effect. The risk management process (RMP) is the primary way in which TGVs are regulated in the US (and many other industrial countries), and proponents claim that the findings of that process in the US and its regulatory consequences should be extended to TBAS. However, TBAS differ in important ways from industrial agriculture, so TGVs could have different effects in TBAS, and farmers there may evaluate risks and benefits differently. To evaluate some potential impacts of TGVs in TBAS we used the RMP as a framework for the case of Bt maize in Mesoamerica and Cuba. We interviewed 334 farmers in Cuba, Guatemala and Mexico about farming practices, evaluations of potential harm via hypothetical scenarios, and ranking of maize types. Results suggest high potential for transgene flow via seed, grain and pollen; differences in effects of this exposure in TBAS compared with industrial agriculture; farmers see some potential consequences as harmful. Perceptions of harm differ among farmers in ways determined by their farming systems, and are different from those commonly assumed in industrial systems. An RMP including participation of farmers and characteristics of TBAS critical for their functioning is necessary to ensure that investments in agricultural technologies will improve, not compromise these agricultural systems.

Keywords

transgenicmaizegenetic engineeringrisk managementfarmerstraditional agricultureseed systemgene flowthird worldMexicoCubaGuatemalaMesoamericaCaribbean
Type
Research Article
Information
Environmental Biosafety Research , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , July 2005 , pp. 141 - 166
Copyright
© ISBR, EDP Sciences, 2006

References

Alvarez-Buylla E (2003) Ecological and biological aspects of the impacts of transgenic maize, including agro-biodiversity, Prepared for the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America, as part of the Article 13 initiative on Maize and Biodiversity: the Effects of Transgenic Maize in Mexico. Published on line at www.cec.org
Alvarez-Morales A (2002) Transgenes in maize landraces in Oaxaca: official report on the extent and implications. http://www.worldbiosafety.net/
Andow DA, Daniell H, Gepts P, Lamkey KR, Nafziger E, Strayer D (2004) A growing concern: Protecting the food supply in an era of pharmaceutical and industrial crops. Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, MA. Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, DC
Aquino P, Carrión F, Calvo R, Flores D (2001) Selected maize statistics. In Pingali PL, ed., CIMMYT 1999–2000 World maize facts and trends. Meeting world maize needs: technological opportunities and priorities for the public sector. CIMMYT, DF, Mexico, pp 45–57
Aragón Cuevas F, Soleri D, Cleveland DA (n.d.) Farmers’ practices, knowledge and values regarding maize improvement and transgenes in four communities in Oaxaca, Mexico
Brown AHD (1999) The genetic structure of crop landraces and the challenge to conserve them in situ on farms. In Brush SB, ed, Genes in the field: on-farm conservation of crop diversity. Lewis Publishers; IPGRI; IDRC, Boca Raton, Florida; Rome; Ottawa, pp 29–48
Burgess, JA, Walsh, AJ (1998) Is genetic engineering wrong, per se? J. Value Inquiry 32: 393–406 CrossRef
CEC (2004) Maize and biodiversity: the effects of transgenic maize in Mexico. Key findings and recommendations. Secretariat article 13 report. Montreal: CEC. 2004. 2004 Nov 10. http://www.cec.org/files/PDF//Maize-and-Biodiver-sity_en.pdf
Ceccarelli S (1997) Adaptation to low/high input cultivation. In Tigerstedt PMA, ed, Adaptation and plant breeding. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 225–236
Ceccarelli, S, Erskine, W, Hamblin, J, Grando, S (1994) Genotype by environment interaction and international breeding programmes. Exp. Agric. 30: 177–187 CrossRef
CGIAR (2005) CGIAR & agricultural biotechnology: CGIAR. 2005. March 7. http://www.cgiar.org/impact/agribiotech.html
Chilcutt, CF, Tabashnik, BE (2004) Contamination of refuges by Bacillus thuringiensis toxin genes from transgenic maize. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 7526–7529 CrossRef
Cleveland, DA (2001) Is plant breeding science objective truth or social construction? The case of yield stability. Agric. Human Values 18: 251–270 CrossRef
Cleveland DA, Soleri D, eds (2002) Farmers, scientists and plant breeding: integrating knowledge and practice. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK
Cleveland DA, Soleri D (2005) Rethinking the risk management process for GE crops in Third World agriculture. Ecol. Society 10 (1): Article 9. [online] http://www. ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/art9/
Daniell, H (2002) Molecular strategies for gene containment in transgenic crops. Nat. Biotechnol. 20: 581–586 CrossRef
De Groote H, Mugo S, Bergvinson D, Odhiambo B (2005) Assessing the benefits and risks of GE crops: evidence from the Insect Resistant Maize for Africa Project. ISB News February 2005: 7–9
Dilley, M (1997) Climatic factors affecting annual maize yields in the valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Int. J. Climatol. 17: 1549–1557 3.0.CO;2-N>CrossRef
Dittrich, R, Hatzinger, R, Katzenbeisser, W (1998) Modelling the effect of subject-specific covariates in paired comparison studies with an application to university rankings. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. C-Appl. Stat. soc. 47: 511–525 CrossRef
Doebley, J (2004) The genetics of maize evolution. Annu. Rev. Genet. 38: 37–59 CrossRef
Eastham K, Sweet J (2002) Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): the significance of gene flow through pollen transfer. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ellis F (1993) Peasant economics: farm households and agrarian development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Ellstrand, NC (2003) Current knowledge of gene flow in plants: implications for transgene flow. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 358: 1163–1170 CrossRef
Ellstrand NC (2003a) Dangerous liaisons? When cultivated plants mate with their wild relatives. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Ellstrand, NC (2003b) Going to “great lengths” to prevent the escape of genes that produce specialty chemicals. Plant Physiol. 132: 1770–1774 CrossRef
EPA (1998) The Environmental Protection Agency’s White Paper on Bt Plant-pesticide Resistance Management, EPA White Papers. EPA, Washington, DC, pp 78
Evans LT (1993) Crop evolution, adaptation and yield. Cambridge University Press., Cambridge, UK
Evans LT (1998) Feeding the ten billion: Plants and population growth. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Falkenmark M (1994) Landscape as life-support provider: water-related limitations. In Graham-Smith F, ed, Population, the complex reality. The Royal Society, London, pp 103–116
FAO (2004) Agricultural biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor? The state of food and agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, Rome, Italy
FAOSTAT Data (2005) Agricultural Data. 2005. 4 July 2005. http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/collections?version=ext&hasbulk =0&subset=agriculture
Fernandez-Cornejo J (2004) The seed industry in US agriculture. In USDA-ERS, ed, Agriculture Information Bulletin. USDA-ERS, pp 81
Fienberg, SE, Larntz, K (1976) Log linear representation for paired and multiple comparisons models. Biometrika 63: 245–254 CrossRef
Fitt GP, Andow DA, Carriére Y, Moar WJ, Schuler TH, Omoto C, Kanya J, Okech MA, Arama P, Maniania NK (2004) Resistance risks and management associated with Bt maize in Kenya. In Hilbeck A, Andow DA, eds, Environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms: Volume 1. A case study of Bt maize in Kenya. CAB International, Oxfordshire, UK, pp 209–250
Frankel OH, Brown AHD, Burdon JJ (1995) The conservation of plant biodiversity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Frewer, L (2003) Societal issues and public attitudes towards genetically modified foods. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 14: 319–332 CrossRef
Gaskell G, Allum N, Stares S (2003) Europeans and Biotechnology in 2002. A report to the EC Directorate General for Research from the project ‘Life Sciences in European Society’ QLG7-CT-1999-00286. Public Opinion Analysis Sector, European Commission, http://europa.eu.int/comm/public{Iopinion/archives/ebbb/ebs}177{Ien.pdf, Brussels, Belgium}}
Goklany, IM (2002) From precautionary principle to risk-risk analysis. Nat. Biotechnol. 20: 1075 CrossRef
Gonzalez A (2005) Territory, autonomy and defending maize. Seedling (January): 14–17
Goodman, MM (2004) Plant breeding requirements for applied molecular biology. Crop Sci. 44: 1913–1914 CrossRef
Gould, F (1998) Sustainability of transgenic insecticidal cultivars: integrating pest genetics and ecology. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 43: 701–726 CrossRef
Gould F, Cohen MB (2000) Sustainable use of genetically modified crops in developing countries. In Persley G, Lantin M, eds, Agricultural biotechnology and the poor: an international conference. CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), Washington, DC, pp 139–146
Hallman WK, Hebden WC, Cuite CL, Aquino HL, Lang JT (2004) Americans and GM food: Knowledge, opinion and interest in 2004. Food Policy Institute, Cook College, Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Hardaker JB, Huirne RBM, Anderson JR (1997) Coping with risk in agriculture. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK
Heisey PW, Edmeades GO (1999) Part 1. Maize production in drought-stressed environments: technical options and research resource allocation. In CIMMYT, ed, World maize facts and trends 1997/98. CIMMYT, Mexico, DF, pp 1–36
Hernández Xolocotzi, E (1985) Maize and man in the greater southwest. Econ. Bot. 39: 416–430 CrossRef
Hilbeck A, Andow DA, eds (2004) A case study of Bt maize in Kenya. CABI, Wallingford, Osfordshire, UK
Huang, J, Hu, R, Pray, C, Qiao, F, Rozelle, S (2003) Biotechnology as an alternative to chemical pesticides: a case study of Bt cotton in China. Agric. Econ. 29: 55–67 CrossRef
Huang, JK, Hu, RF, Rozelle, S, Pray, C (2005) Insect-resistant GM rice in farmers’ fields: Assessing productivity and health effects in China. Science 308: 688–690 CrossRef
INEGI (1996) Anuario Estadístico del Estado de Oaxaca, Edición 1996. INEGI, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico
INEGI (2001) Sistema para la consulta del annuario estadístico. INEGI, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico
INEGI (2005) Indicadores del XII censo general de población y vivienda 2000. Mexico. 2005. 2 August 2005. http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/default.asp?c=5171
Instituto Nacional de Economia (2004) IV Censo Nacional Agropecuario 2003. INE, Guatemala
James C (2004) Preview: global status of commercialized biotech/GM crops: 2004. Ithaca, NY: ISAAA. http://www.isaaa.org/kc/CBTNews/press_release/briefs32/ESummary/Executive%20Summary%20(English).pdf
Kenward, K, Brandle, J, McPherson, J, Davies, P (1999) Type II fish antifreeze protein accumulation in transgenic tobacco does not confer frost resistance. Transgenic Res. 8: 105–117 CrossRef
Klinger T (2002) Variability and uncertainty in crop-to-wild hybridization. In Letourneau DK, Elpern Burrows B, eds, Genetically engineered organisms: assessing environmental and human health effects. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp 1–15
Louette, D, Charrier, A, Berthaud, J (1997) In situ conservation of maize in Mexico: genetic diversity and maize seed management in a traditional community. Econ. Bot. 51: 20–38 CrossRef
Louette, D, Smale, M (2000) Farmers’ seed selection practices and maize variety characteristics in a traditional Mexican community. Euphytica 113: 25–41 CrossRef
Luna, VS, Figueroa, J, Baltazar, MB, Gomez, LR, Townsend, R, Shoper, JB (2001) Maize pollen longevity and distance isolation requirements for effective pollen control. Crop Sci. 41: 1551–1557 CrossRef
Ma, BL, Subedi, KD, Reid, LM (2004) Extent of cross-fertilization in maize by pollen from neighboring transgenic hybrids. Crop Sci. 44: 1273–1282 CrossRef
Matsuoka, Y, Vigouroux, Y, Goodman, MM, Sanchez, GJ, Buckler, E, Doebley, J (2002) A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 6080–6084 CrossRef
Messeguer, J (2003) Gene flow assessment in transgenic plants. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult. 73: 201–212 CrossRef
Millennium Project (2005) Halving hunger: it can be done. Earthscan, London
Monsanto Company (2004) Growing options. Monsanto 2004 pledge report. St Louis, Missouri: Monstanto Company. 2004. November 9. http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/content/media/pubs/2004/pledgereport.pdf
Mora JE (2005) Central America: UN agency accused of distributing GM foods: Inter Press Service News Agency. 2005. June 23. http://ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews= 27498
Morris ML (1998) Maize seed industries in developing countries. Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Colorado
Murphy, K, Lammer, D, Lyon, S, Carter, B, Jones, SS (2005) Breeding for organic and low-input farming systems: An evolutionary-participatory breeding method for inbred cereal grains. Renew. Agric. Food Syst. 20: 48–55 CrossRef
Nadal A (2000) The environmental and social impacts of economic liberalization on corn production in Mexico. World Wide Fund for Nature, and Oxfam GB, Gland, Switzerland, and Oxford, UK
Narayanan S, Gulati A (2002) Globalization and the smallholders: a review of issues, approaches, and implications. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC
Nelson KC, Kibata G, Muhammad L, Okuro JO, Muyekho F, Odinho M, Ely A, Waquil JM (2004) Problem formulation and options assessment (PFOA) for genetically modified organisms: The Kenya case study. In Hilbeck A, Andow DA, eds, Environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms, Volume 1: A case study of Bt maize in Kenya. CAB International, Walingford, UK, pp 57–82
NRC (1996) Understanding risk: informing decisions in a democratic society. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
NRC (2002) Environmental effects of transgenic plants: the scope and adequacy of regulation. National Academy Press, Washington, DC
NRC (2004) Biological confinement of genetically engineered organisms, Washington, DC
Ortiz-García, S, Ezcurra, E, Schoel, B, Acevedo, F, Soberón, J, Snow, AA (2005) Absence of detectable transgenes in local landraces of maize in Oaxaca, Mexico (2003-2004). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 12338–12343 CrossRef
Pressoir, G, Berthaud, J (2004) Patterns of population structure in maize landraces from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in Mexico. Heredity 92: 88–94 CrossRef
Quist, D, Chapela, IH (2001) Transgenic DNA introgressed into traditional maize landraces in Oaxaca, Mexico. Nature 414: 541–543 CrossRef
SAGARPA (2004) Producción agrícola, año 2003, Servicio de información y estadística agroalimentaria y pesquera (SIAP). Mexico: SAGARPA. 2005. 2 August 2005. http://www. sagarpa.gob.mx
SAS Institute (2001) SAS System for Windows. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina
Simmonds NW, Smartt J (1999) Principles of crop improvement. Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford, UK
Snow, AA, Andow, DA, Gepts, P, Hallerman, EM, Power, A, Tiedje, JM, Wolfenbarger, LL (2005) Genetically engineered organisms and the environment: Current status and recommendations. Ecol. Appl. 15: 377–404 CrossRef
Soleri, D, Cleveland, DA (2005) Scenarios as a tool for eliciting and understanding farmers’ biological knowledge. Field Methods 17: 283–301 CrossRef
Soleri D, Cleveland DA, Smith SE, Ceccarelli S, Grando S, Rana RB, Rijal D, Ríos Labrada H (2002) Understanding farmers’ knowledge as the basis for collaboration with plant breeders: methodological development and examples from ongoing research in Mexico, Syria, Cuba, and Nepal. In Cleveland DA, Soleri D, eds, Farmers, scientists and plant breeding: integrating knowledge and practice. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon, UK, pp 19–60
Soleri, D, Smith, SE, Cleveland, DA (2000) Evaluating the potential for farmer and plant breeder collaboration: a case study of farmer maize selection in Oaxaca, Mexico. Euphytica 116: 41–57 CrossRef
Storer, NP (2003) Sensitivity analysis of a spatially-explicit stochastic simulation model of the evolution of resitance in Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to Bt transgenic corn and cotton. J. Econ. Entomol. 96: 173–187 CrossRef
Thirtle, C, Beyers, L, Ismael, Y (2003) Can GM-Technologies Help the Poor? The Impact of Bt Cotton in Makhathini Flats, KwaZulu-Natal. World Develop. 31: 717–732 CrossRef
Traxler, G, Godoy-Avila S (2004) Transgenic cotton in Mexico. AgBioForum 7: 57–62
USDA FAS (2005) FAS Online US Trade Internet System
USDA NASS (2004) Crop Production-Prospective Planting-Supplement. 2004. nov 9. http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/volume1/us/st99_1_001_001.pdf
Walker TS (1989) Yield and household income variability in India’s semi-arid tropics. In Anderson JR, Hazell PBR, eds, Variability in Grain Yields: Implications for agricultural research and policy in developing countries. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, pp 309– 319
Yang, PY, Iles, M, Yan, S, Jolliffe, F (2005) Farmers’ knowledge, perceptions and practices in transgenic Bt cotton in small producer systems in Northern China. Crop Prot. 24: 229–239 CrossRef
Zeven, AC (1998) Landraces: a review of definitions and classifications. Euphytica 104: 127–139 CrossRef
Zhong, G-Y (2001) Genetic issues and pitfalls in transgenic breeding. Euphytica 118: 137–144 CrossRef
Zhu, YY, Chen, HR, Fan, JH, Wang, YY, Li, Y, Chen, JB, Fan, JX, Yang, SS, Hu, LP, Leung, H, Mew, TW, Teng, PS, Wang, ZH, Mundt, CC (2000) Genetic diversity and disease control in rice. Nature 406: 718–722 CrossRef