Brian Dowd-Uribe

  • Cotton harvest

    Power and GM cotton in Burkina Faso

    Jessie Luna
    Brian Dowd-Uribe
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    Monsanto's genetically modified cotton 'success' narrative for Burkina Faso was built on studies with methodological problems.
  • Burkina Faso farmers were happy with Monsanto's GMO Bt cotton, which raised their profits. But for the companies that bought the cotton at a fixed price set by the government, it was a disaster, thanks to the shorter fibres and lower yields. Photo: KKB vi

    Burkina Faso's decision to drop GM cotton and the law of unintended consequences

    Brian Dowd-Uribe
    Matthew Schnurr
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    Over 100,000 Burkina Faso farmers were pleased with Monsanto's yield-boosting Bt cotton, write Brian Dowd-Uribe & Matthew Schnurr. But not the companies that had to buy the crop at a fixed government-set price. The shorter fibres produced by Bt varieties led to less lint being extracted, and of lower quality, making it a lose-lose proposition for the country's most important industry.
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