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Interview
with Klaus M. Leisinger on methodological
diversity in pest control.
 In Kenya, our aim
is to develop and deliver maize varieties resistant
to the major stem borer species to smallholder farmers,
and increase maize production and improve food security.
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Interview with Klaus M. Leisinger, member of Board of Directors
of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, on methodological
diversity in pest control
Dr. Leisinger, does the research project on Insect Resistant
Maize for Africa (IRMA) mean that the agribusiness is transferring biotechnological
field research, which has been banned in Europe, to the Third World?
Leisinger: No. It is not agribusiness that is promoting
the IRMA project, but the International Center for the Improvement of
Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT), an international research organization associated
with the World Bank, and the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute
(KARI).
So the accusation leveled by development organizations that
the experiments in Kenya are evidence of unscrupulous power hunger on
the part of agricultural corporations is wrong?
Leisinger: Yes, it's completely wrong. To begin with,
IRMA is concerned with developing insect-resistant maize...
...using agrobiotechnology...
Leisinger: ...using every method that is known -
biological pest control, traditional breeding methods, and also genetic
technology.
And second?
Leisinger: Second, neither Novartis nor Syngenta,
which has taken over its seed business, has the slightest economic interest
in the project. In Kenya, we are quite intentionally providing support
for a public research institute.
Why?
Leisinger: Because the research at KARI is competent,
has practical relevance, and directly benefits poor farmers. In addition,
however, to help prevent biotechnology research from being carried out
only by private companies, which are only able to make investments when
there are profits to be earned.
And there aren't any to be earned in Kenya?
Leisinger: The market is very small and the farmers
are usually penniless. There is practically no profit that could be
made.
It's hard to believe that your Foundation's commitments are
completely without ulterior motives.
Leisinger: There aren't any.
Let's suppose the Kenyan scientists are successful and manage
to breed a reliably insect-resistant variety of maize that also produces
good crops. Who would the patents belong to?
Leisinger: It's a hypothetical question, because
it is anticipates a lot of things we don't know about yet. In any case,
our view is that the rights would belong to the institution making the
discovery.
Meaning KARI?
Leisinger: Yes. patent issues also need to be clarified
in the course of the project. It's new territory for Kenya as well.
How much money are you allocating to IRMA and how long will
the research work last?
Leisinger: Kenya is the first and probably the most
important station for the IRMA project, which includes seven Sub-Saharan
countries. For the whole project, we are intending to spend US$6 million
during the next five years.
Is that enough time?
Leisinger: We'll have to see. We will certainly not
put anybody under time pressure.
Is it difficult to find farmers willing to take part in the
experiments?
Leisinger: It will take a while yet. At the moment
the researchers have only got as far as measuring the crop losses caused
by the stem borer precisely. But it is true, the project leaders already
have difficulties explaining to the village elder why it's not him but
his neighbors who have been selected for the project.
What are the criteria used?
Leisinger: The farmers have to be able to read and
write, or have someone in the family who can, so that they can keep
records of their experience. Also they have to be in direct contact
with their district's agricultural extension service. Still, as I have
said, Kenyan Bt maize will only start growing on the farmers' land a
few years from now - if at all.
What do you mean by that?
Leisinger: That the results of the research project
must not be anticipated. IRMA is an open-ended project.
Are you just wanting to investigate how much the yield increases
when new maize varieties are used, or are you also using ecological
criteria?
Leisinger: Of course we are using ecological criteria.
It's important to note once again that what IRMA is aiming for is not
the introduction of Bt maize, but the breeding of insect-resistant maize
varieties, using every method that might be appropriate. In the field
of biotechnology research, the same cautious method of proceeding is
being used as in the industrial countries. Even in Kenya researchers
are obliged to proceed with all possible caution.
Have you looked for farmers willing to form a control group
and only use beneficial insects like the parasitoid against the stem
borer?
Leisinger: No, because we already know that it works
in specific conditions. The so-called push-pull method also has its
merits in selected locations. We want to compare the advantages and
disadvantages of the various approaches. Because we are convinced that
there is not going to be just one single patent remedy for the stem
borer problem.
Are you in touch with the project's critics, for example with
researchers at the International Center for Insect Research and Ecology
(ICIPE) in Nairobi?
Leisinger: Yes, the scientists at KARI and CIMMYT
maintain a lively exchange of views with the ICIPE.
With no communications problems?
Leisinger: The goals at IRMA are well known, and
the ICIPE knows that we appreciate biological methods, although we do
not want to restrict ourselves to them. In insect protection, the goal
is more important than the path by which it is reached.
Assuming that future new varieties of maize live up to what
people expect of them, will it not automatically lead to a reduction
in species diversity? The farmers will then only plant genetically manipulated
Bt maize and neglect their own breeding varieties.
Leisinger: No. In exactly the same way as in Europe
and the United States, farmers in Africa are people with a will of their
own. Studies have shown that many of them want to stay with tried and
tested methods. Also, genetic technology is only supplementing the existing
seed banks available at KARI. There will be no standardized Kenyan Bt
maize. In a country that is so geographically varied that would hardly
be possible. The characteristics of the new varieties will be cross-bred
with the normal seed in the traditional fashion.
From time immemorial, farmers have always kept back part of
their harvest to use it for the next sowing. This does not seem to be
possible any more with genetically altered seed. The industry even holds
patents for procedures preventing even just a single additional use
that would allow individual hybrid varieties.
Leisinger: The "terminator technology" you are talking
about - which by the way has so far not gone beyond the laboratory stage
- is something I oppose as a technology for subsistence farmers. It
would lead to new forms of dependency for these people - and their life
is hard enough as it is already.
It seems that the Kenyans are less afraid of health reactions,
such as allergies, caused by GM foods than Europeans are.
Leisinger: Yes, so far the issue hasn't arisen. It
may be that a well-fed society has more worries about that sort of thing
than people who are well aware that their food supply is already no
longer secure.
How do you deal with the enthusiasm shown by the small-scale
farmers who are wanting to use Bt maize inside the next six months?
Leisinger: The pressure is actually greater than
expected. The project's directors have to make it clear to the farmers
that they will have to wait. In any case, scientific quality and biological
safety take priority over fast results in the field.
With this kind of pressure, isn't there a danger that the
research will be done in a hurry and that people will declare themselves
satisfied with half-finished studies so that the results can be put
into action quickly?
Leisinger: That would be the worst possible thing
that could happen. Our involvement can only be justified if exactly
the same care is taken during the research as it would be in Europe
or anywhere else.
How can you make sure that will happen? You are involved in
a country that has the reputation of being among the most corrupt in
Africa, if not the whole world.
Leisinger: I have no wish to pass any sort of judgment
on Kenya in this connection. I lived there for many years and I love
the country and its people. However, we are aware of the dangers and
are keeping strict control of the financial resources.
And scientifically?
Leisinger: We regularly present a public account
of the progress of the research. Our ambition is to present an example
with IRMA of the way in which a controversial topic can be handled openly
and honestly - for the welfare of small-scale farmers and the benefit
of the growing population in the Sub-Saharan countries.
The interview was conducted by Jürg Bürgi, a freelance
journalist from Basel, Switzerland.
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