The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has published a report offering guidance to practitioners, regulators, policymakers and researchers on incorporating socioeconomic considerations in biosafety regulations and approval processes for genetically modified (GM) crops.
23 September 2013: The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has published a report offering guidance to practitioners, regulators, policymakers and researchers on incorporating socioeconomic considerations in biosafety regulations and approval processes for genetically modified (GM) crops.
The report, titled ‘Socioeconomic Considerations in Biosafety Decisionmaking: Methods and Implementation,’ notes the need for new methods to account for socioeconomic considerations of GM crops after Indonesia, South Africa and other developing country partners to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety have opted to go beyond the risk assessment requirements under Article 26.1 of the Protocol to include socioeconomic considerations in the development of their national biosafety regulatory systems.
Individual chapters in the report explore the socioeconomic considerations of GM crops in a number of Ugandan cases, including potential constraints on technological delivery and adoption, economic impacts on farmers, and alternatives for the coexistence of GM and organic crops. The cases take into account the national institutional and sectoral contexts of Uganda to underline critical considerations for the socioeconomic assessment of GM crops. These encompass: the stage of the regulatory process at which such assessments should be included; the proper scope of analysis; and relevant procedures for their inclusion in the decisionmaking process.
The report highlights the need to address the particular budgetary, human resource, and time constraints developing countries face in the implementation of socioeconomic assessments. The report further recommends tools and methods that can deliver robust results while not adding additional costs and delays to the regulatory process. Specific recommendations include: collection of ex-ante information on the institutional setting relevant to the technology’s deployment; careful selection of sites for ex-post farm-level analyses; and the use of a range of values when evaluating uncertain prices, yields, or other factors.
IFPRI is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [Publication: Socioeconomic Considerations in Biosafety Decisionmaking] [IFPRI Press Release]