African countries increase land in growing GM crops

African countries have increased their land under genetically modified crops since the introduction of the technology nearly two decades ago, a new report shows.

Burkina Faso increased its Bt cotton hectares by 51 per cent from 313,781 hectares to 474,229 whereas Sudan, in its second year of commercialisation, tripled its Bt cotton from 20,000 hectares in 2012 to 62,000 last year.

On the other hand, South Africa’s biotech hectarage remained the same as in 2012 at 2.9 million hectares. Data on the Egypt’s Bt maize could not be easily established due to political turmoil in the Arab nation throughout last year.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) report on the Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops 2013 released last week also shows that seven African countries-Uganda, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Malawi, Nigeria -have either carried out or still carrying out confined field trials on various crops including cotton, maize, bananas and sweet potatoes as the penultimate step to approval for commercialisation.

“Biotech crops are demonstrating their global value as a tool for resource poor farmers who face decreased water supplies and increased weed and pest pressures – and the effects of climate change will only continue to expand the need for this technology,” said Dr. Clive James, the author and founder of ISAAA.

Although the report says biotech crops are contributing to food security and significantly reducing poverty, majority African countries are yet to embrace growing GM crops due to a combination of factors including strong anti-GM campaigns and the absence of regulatory frameworks.

For instance, Ugandan parliament is yet to approve the National Biosafety Bill meant to regulate the general use of the technology whereas Kenya banned the importation of importation of GM crops following a study carried by a French scientist Gilles-Eric Séralini et al linked it to cancer.

However, the study whose results were published in the November 2012 edition of the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology linking the formation of cancerous tumours in rats to the genetically modified maize that they were fed on was retracted in November 2013.

As such, there are signs that Kenya may be preparing to revise its stance on GM foods again.

Kenya is working towards commercialising GM cotton this year after successful field trials showed the crop’s ability to cushion farmers against high production costs.

Further, biotech drought-tolerant maize under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project is also set for commercialisation in east Africa by 2017 subject to regulatory approvals.

Tanzania has a regulatory framework with the responsibility clause-that discourages scientists from even carrying out confined field.

The report says revenue worth $116.9 billion were generated globally by biotech crops during the 17- year period 1996 to 2012, of which 58 per cent were due to reduced production costs (less ploughing, fewer pesticide sprays and less labor) and 42 per cent due to substantial yield gains of 377 million tonnes produced.

“Biotech crops are also a land-saving technology, capable of higher productivity on the current small piece of land and hence help to preclude deforestation and protect biodiversity,” the report says.

It is estimated that approximately 13 million hectares of biodiversity – rich tropical forests, are lost in developing countries annually due to deforestation as the population search for more land for agriculture.

Globally, for the second year in a row, developing countries planted more hectares of biotech crops than industrialized countries, representing confidence and trust of millions of risk-adverse farmers around the world that have experienced benefits of these crops.

Of the countries planting biotech crops, eight are industrial countries and 19 are developing countries.

A record 175.2 million hectares of biotech crops were grown globally in 2013, at an annual growth rate of 3 per cent, up 5 million from 170 million hectares in 2012, the report says, adding that more than 90 percent, or 16.5 million, of farmers planting biotech crops are small and resource-poor.

“Nearly 100 percent of farmers who try biotech crops continue to plant them year after year,” the report says.

Dr. Charles Mugoya, the programme manager, Agro-Biodiversity and Biotechnology at Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa told The EastAfrican that the increase in acreage under GM crops in Africa demonstrates confident in the technology.

African scientists under their umbrella organisation- African Science Academies- have jointly endorsed growing GM crops saying they are safe as their non-GM counterparts. END

African Orphan Crops Consortium names 100 crops for nutritional research

The African Orphan Crops Consortium has released the names of the 100 African crop species whose genomes it plans to sequence, assemble and annotate to improve nutrition of African families, especially children.

Orphan crops are African food crops and tree species that have been neglected by researchers and industry because they are not economically important on the global market.

The list of the 100 African species, which among others includes; African eggplant, amaranth, Guava, cassava, and potato, developed by African scientists and their colleagues elsewhere, is being availed so that researchers around the world can contact the consortium with suggestions for research needs regarding the selected species.

Dr. Allen Van Deynze, Director of Research at UC Davis' Seed Biotechnology Center in US and one of the scientists on the project said the consortium plans to sequence a reference genome and produce 100 lines for each of the crop listed.

The research will be conducted at its Nairobi-based African Plant Breeding Academy hosted at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), with improved planting materials offered to smallholder farmers throughout Africa.

Dr. Deynze said baobab, which can be used as a dried fruit powder for consumer products, will be the first orphan crop to be studied.

Baobab, called "the wonder tree" in Africa, is claimed to have antiviral properties and other health benefits, ten times the antioxidant level of oranges, twice the amount of calcium as spinach, three times the vitamin C of oranges and four times more potassium than bananas.

“The consortium’s goal is to use the latest scientific equipment and techniques to guide the development of more robust produce with higher nutritional content,” Dr. Deynze said.

Formed in 2010, the African Orphan Crops Consortium includes the African Union - New Partnership for Africa's Development (AU-NEPAD Agency); Mars Incorporated; World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF); Beijing Genomics Institute; Life Technologies Corporation; World Wildlife Fund; University of California, Davis (UC Davis); iPlant Collaborative; and Biosciences eastern and central Africa - International Livestock Research Institute (BecA - ILRI Hub).

Mars Inc has led a similar collaboration that sequenced, assembled and annotated the cocoa genome and made these data publically available on the Internet to all researchers in 2010.

According to the consortium more than 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa consume orphan crops, and thus boosting their main crop production and nutrition could help reduce hunger and malnutrition.

Data from the World Health Organisation, shows that under nutrition is directly or indirectly responsible for 3.5 million child death every year, and at least 35 per cent of the disease burden in under 5 year old children in Africa.

While the degree to which indirect determinants of death varies between countries, WHO says malnutrition is a critical risk factor in most countries, and nutrition and food security remains a fundamental challenge to child survival.

The consortium will also train 250 plant breeders and technicians in genomics and marker-assisted selection for crop improvement over a five-year period. END

Scientists release 10 drought tolerant maize varieties to farmers in E.A

Agricultural scientists across East Africa have released at least 10 conventionally bred drought tolerant maize varieties that will boost farmer’s production despite catastrophic weather conditions.

Scientists across the region told The EastAfrican that four drought tolerant maize varieties have been released in Uganda and Kenya whereas three are in the final stages for release in Tanzania.

The development of the drought tolerant maize varieties, whose research started in 2007, was carried out in collaboration with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation under the Water Efficient Maize and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa Project.

Dr. Godfrey Asea, the cereals programme team leader at the Uganda’s National Crop Resources Institute, Namulonge, told The EastAfrican the Institute has released four varieties of drought resistant maize awaiting to be distributed to farmers starting July this year.

“The maize we have developed performs well in both conditions; dry and rainfalls environments and at the same time are resistant to pests and diseases,” Dr. Asea said.
Dr. Asea said the new maize varieties- UH5354, UH 5355, WE 2114, and WE 2115, are currently under multiplication by Nalweyo Seed Company and Farm Inputs Care Centre (FICA) Limited.

Dr. Asea said drought has become a serious threat to the maize production across the region due to surging effects of climate change.

Scientists from the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) under its programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security say temperatures in East Africa are likely to increase by between 1.3 degrees and 2.1 degrees Celsius by 2050.

This implies that crop productivity in the region could be severely hurt given that they are heavily dependent rain fed agriculture; and thus susceptible to vagaries of nature, resulting into low yields.

Dr. Francis Nang’ayo, the regulatory affairs manager AATF, which operates in ten African countries, told The EastAfrican that the organisation in collaboration with Kenya Agricultural Research Institute has released one variety in Kenya and more three varieties are on the pipeline for release.

“The varieties are in the final stages of evaluation before the evaluation committee and will be released to farmers soon,” Dr. Nang’ayo said.

CIMMYT has also released two drought tolerant maize varieties in Kenya and plans release four more varieties are underway.

In Tanzania, the National Variety Committee has requested the National Seed Committee approval for the newly developed three drought tolerant maize varieties for release to farmers.

The scientists are also carrying out confined field trials on transgenic drought-resistant (DT) maize in Uganda and Kenya; expected to be commercialised in 2017, subject to regulatory approvals.

Currently, Kenya leads in the production of maize in the region, with production averaging about 2.7 million tonnes per year- and slightly lower than the three million tonnes consumed per annum, compared with 2.4 million tonnes in Uganda and Tanzania’s estimated 3-4 million tonnes, according to Kilimo Trust data.

However, Uganda, due to low dependent on maize for consumption, exports most of its crop to Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. END