Scientist says seed hybrids not welcome in Pacific

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Updated October 28, 2009 09:44:08

A tropical agriculture expert has used a conference in Canberra to warn food multinationals that they risk marginalising crops that could fix dietary deficiencies that plague the Pacific. Companies like Monsanto and DuPont have been represented alongside agriculture researchers and economists at the annual international conference of The Crawford Fund which encourages agricultural research and exchanges.

Doctor Dyno Keatinge has dissented from the prevailing view, warning that big, private food research and development ventures won't solve the biggest food problem, malnutrition, which afflicts between one- and three-billion people worldwide.

Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speaker: Dr Marco Feroni, Director of Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture; Dr Namanga Ngongi, President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; Dr Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director of agrictultural development for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr Dyno Keatinge, Director General of World Vegetable Research and Development Centre

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