Low yields could force region to adopt GM crops

In spite of ongoing campaigns against growing genetically modified crops in East Africa, the effects of climate change, pests and diseases as well as rapid population growth could see farmers in the region embrace GM crops as soon as biotechnology laws are passed.

Scientists who gathered in Kampala on September 27 to mark 10 years of the existence of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) said farmers in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi must grow GM crops alongside their conventional crops if the region is to achieve food security.

AATF is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes public-private partnerships for access to and delivery of appropriate agricultural technologies for sustainable use by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yonah Baguma, a principal research officer at the National Agricultural Research Organisation in Uganda said conventional crop breeding has proven unsuccessful in making crops to diseases and pests.

“We as scientists embarked on using biotechnology in developing resistant planting materials because conventional methods proved futile,” said Dr Baguma.

READ: East African scientists defend work on GMOs

Sterile crops

Dr Baguma added that some crops such as cassava and bananas are difficult to breed for resistance using conventional methods as they are sterile, and thus do not produce fruits.

So far, Uganda has approved and carried out field trials on banana to test black sigatoka disease resistance (2007-2009); two trials to evaluate Bacterium throngesis and roundup ready cotton (2009-2010); a trial to test cassava mosaic virus resistance (2009-2010); and two ongoing trials to test banana bio-fortified with vitamin A and iron, to test resistance to banana bacterial wilt.

READ: Ugandan scientists to start trials on GM potato for resistance against blight

The scientists are also carrying out confined field trials on GM maize to test their resistance to stem borer and drought as well as Irish potato to test resistance to Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato blight.

This puts Uganda at the helm of carrying out confined field trials on GM crops in different parts of the country.

Kenya is carrying out confined field trials on cassava to test for resistance against cassava mosaic virus, cotton for insect resistance and maize to test drought and insect resistance. The country’s scientists are also carrying out research on sweet potato for disease resistance as well as bio-fortified sorghum enhanced with vitamin A, zinc and iron.

Commercialisation

Kenya is working towards commercialising GM cotton by next year after successful field trials showed the crop’s ability to cushion farmers against high production costs. Uganda projects to commercialise the crop in 2017. Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda are yet to start trials on GM crops.

The GM cotton variety is resistant to pests and diseases, which have contributed to low yields.

In Africa, only South Africa, Egypt, Burkina Faso and Sudan have commercialised GM crops, according to the Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops: 2012 report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.

Until 2008, South Africa was the only country in Africa that allowed the commercial cultivation of GM crops, such as maize, cotton and soybeans.

In the same year, Egypt started growing small quantities of GM maize, followed by Burkina Faso, which allowed GM cotton. Last year, Sudan allowed growing of GM cotton.

South Africa accounts for nearly all of the three million hectares of GM crop plantings in Africa, dwarfing the 129,000 hectares in a largely GM-free Europe but still a tiny fraction of the 170 million hectares of global GM crops.

Globally, more land in developing countries is under GM crops compared with industrialised countries, for the first time since the introduction of the technology two decades ago, the report said.

“Out of the 28 countries that planted GM crops in 2012, 20 were developing and eight were industrial countries, compared with 19 developing and 10 industrial countries in 2011,” said the report, signifying a major shift by farmers to growing GM crops.

Many African countries are currently at different stages of enacting biosafety legislation, ranging from functional, interim and “work-in-progress” national biosafety frameworks.