- Obama Administration pushes Kenya as GMO "biotechnology and biosafety" hub
- African farmers offered "royalty free" hybrid seeds in trials
- Most small African farmers still oppose use of GMO seeds
- Oxfam UK adviser says small scale African farmers could benefit from GMO
Critics attack the projects, saying they will force already poor African farmers only to use seeds supplied by Monsanto and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
.But supporters say that if the projects are successful, the seeds could grow into a new green revolution. They say biotech crops could boost food production, which the United Nations estimates must increase 70 percent by 2050 as the Earth's population grows.
The seeds could help drought-stricken farmers like Janet Kaindu, they say.
Read the full reports on the Pulitzer Center website:
Report 1: Slide show: Feeding Africa
Report 2: Biotech in Africa: High hopes and high stakes
Report 3: Biotech in Africa: 'A shortage of maize means a shortage of food'
Report 4: Biotech in Africa: Experts see cause for concern
Report 5: Biotech in Africa: Researchers prepare for field tests
Coming Monday: Day 2 of the series Reporter Philip Brasher explores the success that South Africa has had with genetically modified crops.
About this project:
Register reporter Philip Brasher traveled to Kenya and South Africa in November after winning a World Affairs Journalism Fellowship.
This project was directed by the International Center for Journalists and funded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
It was Brasher's fifth trip to Africa. Brasher, who is based in the Register's Washington bureau, was the national farm writer for the Associated Press before joining the Register in 2002.
See the full five-part report as it originally appeared at the Des Moines Register.
Learn more about this reporting project.
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