Activists demonstrate against plans to lift ban on GMO foods in Nairobi last year. PHOTO | FILE
By GERALD ANDAE, gandae@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
The environmental watchdog has clashed with the
biotechnology regulator over the delayed approval of field trials for GM
maize, shelving the decision on commercial use of genetically modified
foods in Kenya.
The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has
retracted its earlier announcement that it had approved large-scale
field trials, arguing that the application for the release of GMO
material is still being reviewed and no approval had been issued for the
pilot.
National Biosafety Authority (NBA) — the agency
that regulates the biotech in the country — has accused Nema of causing
unnecessary delays on the trials.
The Nema reckons that GM foods are sensitive and require more reviews before use.
“We did not approve the field trials for GMO. We
have been still assessing the application and we will have to involve
other stakeholders before making a decision,” said Nema director of
compliance David Ongare.
This is in conflict with Nema’s verdict in August
when the watchdog indicated on its website that it had approved requests
for two organisations to start GMO field trails under the ID number
NEMA/EIA/PSR/6145.
The Kenya Agricultural Research Organisation
(Kalro) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) had
earlier in the year sought Nema’s approval to start GM field trails.
Kenya imposed a ban on GM crops in November, 2012,
citing danger to public health, a decision that locked out exporters
including South Africa, the biggest maize producer in the continent.
The Kalro and AATF were given conditional approval by the NBA for the trials pending Nema’s nod.
“The stakeholders have been involved in this matter
before, at the NBA level and during the environmental impact assessment
and there is no point at all to conduct another stakeholder meeting,”
says NBA chief executive Willy Tonui.
Dr Tonui said its approval of the GMO field trials
was done with the knowledge of Nema given an executive of the
environmental watchdog sits in the NBA board. NBA approvals was informed
by a number stakeholder meetings.
Dr Tonui said the delay is affecting the work of
Kalro and AATF that had planned to start the trials this year in what
could ultimately lead to commercial GM farming.
The trials are expected to take up to two years.
After trials, seed multiplication and supply will be conducted paving
the way for large-scale commercial farming of GMO crops in Kenya for the
first time.
The US, Brazil and India are the world’s largest
growers of GM crops while in Africa, South Africa is the only that
produces GM maize
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