IN PHOTOS: Farmers around the world share their stories
By Justin Cremer
April 2, 2020
Share
All around the world, smallholder farmers toil in their fields to feed their families and their communities. Though these farmers differ in where they live, the crops they grow and the soil conditions they must contend with, their share similar challenges.
In many countries, smallholders farm at subsistence levels and their incomes are limited. They often lack money to buy pesticides, fertilizer or employ advanced technologies that would make their back-breaking work easier. Many have found that planting insect-resistant genetically modified (GM) crops can drastically reduce their use of pesticides, saving them precious resources while also improving their health and that of their local environments.
But others aren’t as lucky. Many farmers still contend with bans on GM seeds and misinformation campaigns that lead them to question the safety of GM crops. In some cases, farmers don’t even know that improved seeds are an option.
In the five-plus years since we started the Alliance for Science, we’ve amplified the voices of farmers from all parts of the world. Their stories have inspired us and helped to put a human face on the challenges and rewards of farming. Here we present a small sampling of the farmers we’ve met. Follow the link below each photo to read the farmers’ full stories.
Jitu Vrajlal Soni, Tanzania: “It’s very important for farmers to speak up, because the people who make the decisions have no clue at all what agriculture is, how people farm or what their needs are. We need to speak out and say what is best for us instead of having people who don’t understand agriculture make the decisions.” READ MORE
Khambi Frans Malele, South Africa: “I was lucky I started with the Bt cotton because I didn’t have to bother with the drought and worms. I have been farming and luckily I’ve got this technology, biotechnology, and as you can see cotton is not difficult to plant.” READ MORE
Florence Wambui Theiru, Kenya: “Last year, we harvested almost nothing because the pests came and attacked our crop, contributing to my low yields. Some farmers have used pesticides to control the pest, but to us it is expensive.” READ MORE
Henrique Gustavo Fiorese, Brazil (left): “You spray less, you use less chemicals and water, it’s easier on the machines, it reduces our costs and it is helping us to improve our production, just from the technology in the seeds. I cannot see why some people cannot use this technology or why some countries don’t allow it.” READ MORE
Giorgio Fidenato, Italy: “I do not like to spray because when you spray you cannot enter the field for two days. Also the wildlife dies; you cannot see any insects, even wild rabbits are impossible to find after the spray.” READ MORE
Rajaram Madhaven, India: “A farmer almost needs to know more science than a medical doctor. You need physics, you need chemistry, you need astronomy.” READ MORE
Wiledio Naboho, Burkina Faso: “As a farmer, what I have seen through the Bt cotton is it reduced the use of the pesticides and it also protects the environment. Farmers don’t know how to use the pesticides, and we have seen the damage.” READ MORE
Grace Bwogi, Uganda: “Most goat farmers are struggling. They cannot afford better breeds or proper nutrition for their animals.” READ MORE
Tepsy Eve Ntseona, South Africa: “Growing GM maize has improved my economic status and also I have realized the benefit in terms of less environmental impact. It is up to us to go out there and show evidence of how this helps the farmer. I am the proof.” READ MORE
Amy Hepworth, USA: “The organic movement was successful in changing the way the agricultural industry operates. But the time has come to release ourselves from the tyranny of the label, taking its valuable lessons and evolving beyond organic to create the safest, most ecologically, economically and socially just agricultural system possible. Advances in biotechnology are a natural fit to meet the demand of the population for sustainably grown food.” READ MORE
AD Alvarez, Philippines: “[Other farmers] need to know that this technology is there. This technology is projected to be a lot of evil stuff, but really, if you look into it, and look into the science, there is nothing bad about it. So why is it being prevented from reaching these people who might need it?” READ MORE
King-David Kwao Amoah, Ghana: “I want to be at the forefront of encouraging the smallholder farmers in Ghana to embrace the modern way of farming and to use improved seeds and other inputs in their production. There are serious campaigns against GMOs in Ghana. The airwaves are being used daily to deceive and mislead our unsuspecting farmers about biotechnological crops and their inputs.” READ MORE
Gina Guiterrez, Mexico: “People can help farmers by trusting us. I would like people to help us by not attacking us. Because we are doing the best we can and we are putting in so much effort. We could be working in an office with a pretty view in the city, but we choose to get our nails and our knees high in mud.” READ MORE
