Production of GMOs imminent as researchers deliberate

mariam said

AUTHORITIES charged with biotech crop production have been urged by environmental scientists to strengthen and modernise their regulatory “framework”.

This, they were told, will boost public and farmers confidence on Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) technology.

Dr Gregory Kaebnick, a research scholar at The Hastings Centre, said here recently that Tanzania and other African countries can try the technology, but warned that any “regulatory mismatch” will have a huge problem on human, environment, economy and food security.

Many African countries have been reluctant to permit genetically engineered crops and animals to be grown or imported, but opposition has softened amid punishing drought and escalating food demand.

With genetically engineered crops already making their way towards Tanzanian plates, the government approved its first research trial (confined field trial) in October last year, planting genetically modified maize, an initiative that supporters believe will provide prospects to the technology advancement across the continent.

“There are 3000 GM food types in the market, all made with different technologies and different genomes ... all these increase complexity and therefore the need to strengthen regulatory frameworks,” the Scientist said during a Pre-conference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy.

The symposium is part of the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists taking place in San Francisco, California, organised by the Council for Advancement of Science Writing (CASW), National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ).

“It is not bad giving the technology a trial, but all the research work must be transparent and inclusive,” he added. The confined field trial, a pre-cursor to commercialisation, is being implemented under a public-private partnership arrangement.

It brings nongovernmental organisations as well as philanthropist through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and funded by Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project. The projects aim however is to reduce crop failure by introducing conventional and GM maize hybrids for smallholder farmers.

Recently, the multinational agricultural biotechnology company, Monsanto announced that it plans to open a GMO seeds production facility in Arusha after initial trials of its seeds showed drought-tolerance and increased demands for high-tech improved seeds to local farmers.

Daily News reported this year that Monsanto Tanzania had injected more than 3,000 tonnes of GMO seeds into the local market targeting smallholder farmers