The GMO myth — cheaper food, deeper hunger, greater corporate power
A challenge to the GMO narrative — corporate-controlled industrial farming fails to address the structural roots of South African hunger.
The GMO narrative in South Africa presents a problematic perspective that fails to address the root causes of hunger and inequality, argues anti-GMO activist Mariam Mayet, executive director of the African Centre for Biodiversity. Ed Stoddard's claim, published on August 1, 2026, that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and precision farming have contributed to South Africa's food inflation reaching a 16-year low does not equate to affordable food or improved nutrition.
The author warns that such a narrative risks ignoring the deep-seated socio-economic factors driving hunger and malnutrition, including poverty, land dispossession, unemployment, low wages, racial inequality, corporate concentration, supermarket power, and inadequate public systems. The success of GMOs is contested due to their reliance on herbicide-dependent monocultures, the use of toxic pesticides, and their distribution by a few transnational corporations, all of which pose risks to farm workers, rural communities, consumers, soil, water, and biodiversity.
The author emphasizes that the health and ecological burdens of these substances disproportionately affect vulnerable groups while profits accrue to the corporations. They call for precautionary measures, independent assessment, transparency, public participation, and accountability in GMO regulation, arguing that scientific advancements should serve the public good, biodiversity, and democratic control over the food system, rather than being driven by corporate interests.
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