Africa: When Technology Displaces the Farmer

19 December 2005

Hong Kong — As the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) ministerial conference captures global attention, a new technology standing in the wings could be about to take centre stage: nanotechnology is already bringing a sci-fi reality to our door and could assign many commodities to history's dustbin, including some produced in the poorest nations of the world.

The Hong Kong conference, cynics argue, has all the hallmarks of a perfectly rehearsed act, and they point to the previous Cancún ministerial as the dress rehearsal. But while this meeting did not collapse like Cancún, there have been echoes of the disagreements that marked the 2003 meeting.

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