It is good to see attempts to harness modern biotechnology to the needs of small farmers in the developing world, but your report was overoptimistic (Technology, 11 May, p 20).
Despite the ravages caused by witchweed, local maize varieties are effective in much of Africa because they are locally adapted, variable, outcrossing populations, changing in composition as they adapt to local problems. They are quite different from the pure-line F1 hybrids of the developed world, which need fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides to produce consistently high yields.
So, can this particular kind of genetic transformation from the developed world be harnessed to the needs of the African small farmer? The new gene construct cannot be introduced into the local maize populationsit would be impossible to transform genetically all of the many local lineswhich change from year to year as they hybridise at random.
Equally, it would not be sensible or ...
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