Counterfeit agricultural inputs keeping Uganda’s farmers in poverty

Arthur Nsubuga has been keeping poultry in Mukono District, approximately 25 kilometres east of Kampala City for 12 years but the last one year has been the most challenging with the dip in production as the counterfeit farm inputs took its toll.

Whereas he could achieve 95-96 laying percentage of the birds aged 33 and 44 week seven years ago, it had dropped to between 65-70 per cent last year with the rise of counterfeit feeds and agro-chemicals.

“When we carried out my own analysis of the feeds with the help of a private firm, we discovered that it contained only 20 per cent of the nutrients required for the birds due to adulteration. At the same time, some birds were dying even when we had vaccinated them at the right age,” Mr. Nsubuga said.

Mr. Nsubuga said though the birds have been reduced by 70 per cent to 4,500 to mininise the losses, he is also mixing the feeds and agro-chemicals himself after sourcing them directly from the manufacturers.

Mr. Nsubuga’s predicament reveals how widespread farmers in Uganda are grappling with the counterfeit farm inputs including animal feeds, seeds, and agro-chemicals thus affecting food security and livelihood of millions of the population.

According to the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC), counterfeit agriculture inputs currently account for 30 per cent of agro sales in sub-Saharan Africa, where law enforcement agencies, ministries of agriculture and the private sector have not made any real headway in combating the vice.

Dr. Grace Abalo, the National Project Coordinators for Uganda for the Water Efficient Maize for Africa under the Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technologies, said the counterfeit farm inputs such as seeds have been exacerbated by seed companies that have mastered the art of supplying grain to farmers instead of seeds resulting into poor yields or not germinating at all, a claim seed companies denies.

“I think that is not being sincere. We have been taking our own measures like random inspection of our seed dealers to ensure that the seeds in their stocks are of good quality to our farmers. We are planning to start using e-verification technology next year to identify genuine and counterfeit seeds,” said Richard Musagazi, the chairman of Uganda Seed Traders Association.

Mr. Musagazi blames the government for counterfeit farm input especially seeds as it has a thin staff to track down unscrupulous traders.

This, Dr. Abalo says, coupled with unpredictable weather changes have ensured that farmers have little to eat, and discouraging the population from commercially investing in the sector.

Statistics from Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal, Industry and Fisheries shows that the country’s demand for seeds currently stands at 35,000 tonnes but the 25 seed companies produces only 12,000 tonnes of seeds to the farmers, with maize accounting for over 60 per cent.

This has left majority of the farmers to persistently relay on seeds saved from the previous seasons or traded informally between neighbours for fear of purchasing counterfeits, even as such seeds generally produce far lower yields than genuine high yield hybrids.

Further, incidences of counterfeit agro-chemicals have also remained high currently standing at 40 per cent for the agro-chemical imports in Uganda and Tanzania and between 15-20 per cent in Kenya, according to CropLife Uganda- an association of agro-chemical importers in the country.

The high levels of counterfeit agro-chemicals that do not kill weeds or pests are making farmers lose billions of shillings in the agriculture sector, said Betty Atto, the CEO for Crop Life Uganda.

As such, Uganda’s former agriculture minister Victoria Sekitoleko said there’s need to pass relevant laws currently shelved in parliament to streamline the agriculture sector making it more productive to address issues of food security and source of livelihood.

According to Uganda’s National Budget 2014/15, the country’s agriculture sector employs 70 per cent of the estimated 34 million people but contributes t only about 21 percent to the Gross Domestic Product, with its annual growth figure stagnated as low as three per cent for the last two years.

“What this country needs now is to pass those laws in line with the agriculture sector,” Ms. Ssekitoleko said.
For instance, the Plant Protection and Health Bill 2010 that was tabled by then Agriculture Minister Hope Mwesigye, is still in parliament.

The Bill covers phytosanitary issues, seed health analysis, disease and pest surveillance, quarantine issues, and the movement of seed and planting materials for mainly import and export purposes.

The Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill 2010 which aims to regulate and control the application of biotechnology products (including transborder movement of germplasm), ensure value for money, and improve biosafety for people and the environment is still before Parliament.

The National Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy was approved and adopted by Uganda's Cabinet in April 2008.

Currently Uganda relies on three laws- Control of Agro-Chemical Act 2006, Seed and Plant Act of 2006 and Plant Protection Act of 1962- with little effect to fight counterfeit agricultural farm inputs.

Whereas the Seed and Plant Act 2006 stipulates that a person selling a substandard seed or selling a counterfeit commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding Ush500, 000 ($190) or face imprisonment for a term not exceeding four years or to both, the Plant Protection Act of 1962 imposes Ush2, 000 ($0.76) as fine for selling counterfeit seeds.

On the other hand, the Control of Agro-Chemical Act 2006- deals more on regulating sale of agriculture chemicals but silent on penalties for traders involved in selling counterfeit chemicals.

This has encouraged unscrupulous traders to involve in selling counterfeit farm inputs because the penalties are low once convicted in courts of law, Dr. Fred Mukulu, the Mukono District production and marketing officer said.

“Currently, the penalties against a person involving in counterfeit farm inputs are very low. We’re proposing that some fines should be custodial; somebody must be jailed for one year or a high fine of more than Ush2million ($755)) to deter traders from selling counterfeits to farmers,” Dr. Mukulu said.

Ms. Sylvia Kirabo, the spokesperson for the Uganda Bureau of Standards, a government’s agency mandated to ensure that manufactured products or those entering the country meets the required standards, told The EastAfrican that fighting counterfeits in the agriculture sector lies with the agriculture ministry.

“Our work as UNBS is to develop standards which are supposed to be enforced by the line ministries- in this case agriculture ministry,” Ms. Kirabo said.

Ms. Kirabo said the UNBS is only fighting counterfeit fertilisers that enter the country through their Pre-inspection Verification of Conformity programme.

Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Connie Achayo says whereas it is the role of the ministry to fight counterfeit inputs, it is the responsibility of every stakeholder in the sector to fight the vice.

“I also admit that we are very thin on the ground in the fighting counterfeit farm inputs but the farmers also rarely report to us on where they bought counterfeit seeds, chemicals, and this makes our work difficult,” Ms. Achayo said, adding that that the nature of the business has made the ministry unable to assess the actual loss to the agriculture sector.

Dr. Robert Karyeija, commissioner in charge of seed inspection and certification in the agriculture ministry said the government is recruiting more staff to inspect seed producers across the country.

“We have recruited 23 new staff to deal with the inspection and certification of seeds. We are soon going to attach at least one staff to each seed producing companies to monitor their seed trade, right away from their gardens to the market,” Dr. Karyeija said.

Mr. Karyeija said whereas the ministry is also in talks with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to establish an agriculture police responsible for arresting those found involving in selling counterfeit seeds, it also plans to re-licence all the seed companies as a measure to streamline seed sector.

Scientists move to conserve East Africa's plant genetic resources

Crop scientists have embarked on a five-year project to conserve indigenous plant genetic resources in a move to improve food security across East Africa.

Plant genetic resources are diversity of seeds and planting material of traditional and modern varieties, crop wild relatives and other wild plant species which scientists can use in the development of improved crop varieties, resistant to pests and diseases as well as tolerant to changes in climatic conditions.

Dr. Fina Opio, the executive director at the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) said the $8.5 million project funded by the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency, will see the scientists across East Africa including Somalia, Djibouti, and South Sudan, take forward efforts in collecting, store and sharing information on the available plant genetic resources.

“It will also enhance the utilisation of the conserved materials by completing the characterization, evaluation and documentation of the accessed materials. This will involve more work in ensuring that infrastructure for conservation is working under ideal conditions,” Dr. Opio said.

Dr. Opio said over 140,000 accessions (collections of plant materials from particular locations) of plants have so far been collected and conserved in the various national gene-banks in Uganda, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Sudan.

Of these, over 27,000 accessions have been adequately characterised and 1,416 accessions evaluated for various agronomic and nutritional qualities, yield potential and for drought tolerance and thus ready to be taken-up by farmers.

This comes in a wake of devastating effects of climate change, social and political unrest, invasion of alien species, inadequate recognition of the value of indigenous and/or traditional knowledge systems and the expanding population pressure, threatening the existence of indigenous plant species viable for plant breeding in the region.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the world population is expected to rise from the current seven billion people to nine billion by 2050, putting on more pressure on land to feed the escalating population.

Whereas the indigenous planting materials have low yields per unit area compared with the improved varieties, modern plant breeders normally revert to traditional plants to get the genes that are useful for breeding programmes to address a particular agricultural problem.

Dr. Abebe Demissie Tefera, the managing director at the Ethiopian-based Climate and Natural Resources Management Consulting told The EastAfrican that east Africa harbors various crops wild relatives that exhibit a large gene pool that could help to tackle challenges of climate change, pests and diseases.

Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, and Sudan, for instance, have a wide collection of genetic resources including that of cereals, legumes, oils crops, millets and forage species as well as those with high pharmaceutical values such as Prunus Africana, Warbugia ugandensis, and Fagara macrophilla.

Dr. Abebe said sorghum and millet are unusually drought tolerant whose potential can be harness to increase production in the north east African countries in response to the adverse of climate change.

“The wild relatives of these crops probably hold the key to food security and increased agricultural productivity in the region as sources of genes for adaptive traits in the wake of climate change,” Dr. Abebe said.

Early this year, the African Orphan Crops Consortium consisting of the African Union -New Partnership for Africa’s Development; Mars Incorporated; World Agroforestry Centre; Beijing Genomics Institute; Life Technologies Corporation; World Wildlife Fund; University of California, Davis; iPlant Collaborative and Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute, released a list of a hundred ingenious crop species whose genomes it plans to sequence, assemble and annotate to improve nutrition on the continent.

The list, which includes the African eggplant, amaranth, guava and cassava, finger millet, sorghum, is being disseminated so that researchers around the world can contact the consortium with suggestions for research needs regarding the selected species.
The research is to being conducted at the Nairobi-based African Plant Breeding Academy hosted at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), with improved planting materials offered to smallholder farmers throughout Africa.

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

Globally, agriculture depends on the diversity of relatively few plant species, according to Dr. Abebe, adding that of the approximately 250, 000 identified and described plant species, some 7,000 are being used for food, with only 30 species providing about 90 per cent of the world’s calorie intake and only three species namely maize, wheat and rice supplying almost 60 per cent of the calories and protein in the human diet.

“In addition to being limited in terms of species diversity, the world’s genetic diversity is in danger of being lost. With the advent of modern agriculture, untold numbers of locally adapted traditional varieties have been replaced by the widespread use of genetically uniform high yielding modern varieties,” Dr. Abebe said.

Dr. John Mulumba, the head of Plant Genetics Resource Center in Entebbe told The EastAfrican that the seeds for Uganda’s indigenous crops are now available to farmers and scientists upon request.

Locally owned companies now dominate seed production in Sub Saharan Africa

Locally-owned seed companies involving in the production of high-yielding crop varieties to smallholder farmers have become the largest seed producers in sub-Saharan Africa, signaling a surging demand for certified seeds.

Data from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa reveals that 80 small- to medium-size African seed companies in 16 African countries are on track to produce over 80,000 metric tonnes of professionally certified seeds.

AGRA is a Nairobi-based non-governmental organisation working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.

Since the emergence of private seed companies in the Sub Saharan Africa in the late 1990’s, Tanzania leads in the East African region with 14 local and four foreign owned companies involving in the production of high yielding seeds compared with 10 local firms and three foreign firms in Uganda.

Kenya has seven local and four foreign firms compared with only three local firms dealing in commercial seed production for farmers in Rwanda.

Executives in the seed sector told The EastAfrican that the surge in demand for high yielding seed varieties are the key drivers for an increase in local firms dealing in commercial high yielding seed production for farmers.

“The demand for seeds is rising every year in Uganda and the neighbouring countries-Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan – and that explains the rapid growth of the sector because of the available market,” Uganda’s Pearl Seeds managing director Richard Musagazi said.

Ms. Jospehine Okot, the managing director at Victoria Seeds in Uganda told The EastAfrican that farmers in east African region are increasingly adapting high yielding seed varieties, as population growth raises amidst limited land.

AGRA’s Director of Program for Africa’s Seed Systems Dr. Joe DeVries said Africa’s entrepreneurial spirit has been evident in the rapid growth of local seed companies.

“The rapid growth of local seed companies over a very short time period is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit percolating in communities across Africa and to the pent-up demand among Africa’s smallholder farmers for improved, high-yield crop varieties,” said Dr. DeVries said.

The AGRA report notes that there are already indications that increasing access to the improved seed is helping farmers realize an increase in food production by 50 to 100 per cent out of the same amount of land.

For example, 69 percent of farmers surveyed in Kenya, 74 percent in Nigeria, and 79 percent in Mozambique said improved maize varieties had allowed them to double the amount of maize harvested per hectare.

Similarly, 79 percent of farmers surveyed in Ghana reported doubling rice yields, and 85 percent of farmers surveyed in Uganda reported doubling yields from cowpea.

However, the surge in demand for high yielding seeds and other agricultural inputs including fertilizer and herbicides has led to an increase in counterfeits in the market, according to officials in the sector.

“It is because of high demand for high yielding seeds, surpassing supply that we are experiencing increased incidences of counterfeits farm inputs,” Ms. Okot said.

Counterfeit products have been identified as the biggest threat to agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa, affecting germination, crop health, food security and production.

In this scenario, even as more than 70 per cent of the Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is directly engaged in agriculture, production has been hampered with low funding to acquire farm inputs by farmers including seeds or the effects of counterfeits have tended to discourage able farmers from buying inputs and hence low agricultural production.

Dr. DeVries said national governments need to free up the supply of foundation seed developed by their public-sector breeding programs and offer tax incentives to encourage investments in processing equipment, irrigation technology, and other seed production infrastructure.

Also, local seed companies need more access to investment capital, and farmers need to learn more about the benefits of investing in quality seed of superior varieties. END

South Korea opens a research centre in Uganda

Rural Development Administration of South Korea has opened up a research centre in Uganda aimed at increasing the country’s agricultural productivity through research.

Executives at the state-run agricultural research institute at the National Crop Resources Laboratories, Kawanda, will provide technical cooperation for a range of activities, from agricultural development projects to the training of Ugandan researchers and farmers.

RDA Deputy Administrator Dr. Ra Seungyong said Korea Project on International Agriculture-Uganda will work with NARO in developing locally adaptable technologies and seeds by sharing knowledge and experience with the country’s researchers.

“We also hope to disseminate localized technologies and practices to local farmers through demonstration projects as well as build better research capacity through exchange programmes for scientists and experts,” Dr. Seungyong said in Kampala last week during the launch of the new centre.

So far, KOPIA-Uganda has already partnered with National Animal Genetic Resource Center and Data Bank to come up with a preservation protocol of the Ankole Semen and plans are underway to unveil a $3.5 million farmer’s training college in Mpigi District in July.

The new development comes at the time Uganda’s agricultures sector is struggling with low funding amidst employing over 70 per cent of the population, the scenario that has consistently led to low contribution to the to the country’s Gross Domestic Product compared with other sectors like services and manufacturing.

In Uganda, agriculture’s contribution to GDP has averaged 20 per cent for the past five years, with growth figures as low as three per cent.

Dr. Ambrose Agona, the director general at NARO said the new partnership with the Korean scientists will boost agricultural productivity, which has over the years remained low leading to low incomes to farmers, food insecurity and malnutrition.

“We strongly believe that this relationship is going to uplift our Ugandan farmers from subsistence farming to commercial in the coming years,” Dr. Agona said, in reference to South Korea’s development model.

For the last 50 years, South Korea has experienced dramatic and unprecedented transformation in its agriculture sector, driven by revolutionary technological advancement, which set the war-torn nation free from chronic famine and food shortage.

Having almost no natural resources and always suffering from overpopulation in its small territory, which deterred continued population growth and the formation of a large internal consumer market, South Korea later adapted an export-oriented economic strategy to fuel its economy.

Currently, South Korea is one of the world's wealthiest nations, and is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G-20 major economies.

The Agriculture Minister in Uganda Dr. Zarababel Nyiira said it is time for Ugandan farmers to benefit from South Korea’s technologies to grow their incomes especially with value addition.

South Korea established RDA in 2009 to share its experience and knowledge with the developing countries developing for economic transformation.

RDA has now set up 20 KOPIA centers in Africa, Southeast Asia, central Asian states, and Latin America to deal with local and regional issues in agriculture and rural development such as food security, resource depletion and climate change.

In Africa, KOPIA has research centres in Kenya, DR Congo, Algeria, and Ethiopia working on various projects and technologies such as rice growing and artificial insemination in livestock. END

Scientists to release new varieties of drought tolerant sweet potatoes in Uganda

Crop scientists are to release five lines of conventionally bred drought tolerant sweet potatoes to farmers next year in Uganda in response to varying weather patterns.

The development of the drought tolerant sweet potato lines, whose research started in 2008, is being conducted by Makerere University’s Research Institute, Kabanyolo, in collaboration with the International Potato Center based in Peru, National Agricultural Research Organisation, and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

Mikocheni Agricultural Institute (Tanzania), University of Addis-Ababa (Ethiopia), Rwanda Agricultural Research Board as well as Bio Crops Uganda Limited and Chain Uganda are the other partnering institutions in carrying out the research.

Lead scientist Dr. Ssetumba Mukasa told The EastAfrican that 11 lines have so far been lined for final evaluation in Hoima and Bushenyi Districts, western Uganda, before presenting the most desired lines to the National Variety Release Committee for further evaluation and release to farmers.

“We are now working with the farmers evaluating the promising clones in which we hope to select at least five lines basing on drought tolerant, yield, farmers’ choice and tolerance to the sweet potato virus disease,” Dr. Mukasa said.

Research shows that sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) is the most harmful disease affecting the crop in East Africa, Dr. Mukasa said.

It is caused by dual infection of sweet potato feathery mottle potyvirus (SPFMV) transmitted by aphids and sweet potato chlorotic stunt crinivirus (SPCSV) transmitted by whiteflies.

Whereas sweet potato crop affected by feathery mottle potyvirus do not show any sign of the disease, those affected by chlorotic stunt crinivirus are characterised by stunting, purpling, and yellowing of leaves of the potato leaves.

Apparently, SPVD is widespread in major sweet potato growing areas in Uganda especially in western regions due to monoculture, a scenario that sometimes leads up to 98 per cent yield loss and extinction of the early maturing and high yielding cultivars.

Dr. Mukasa said a total of 5,000 sweet potato lines have been crossed and screened for the desired traits since the beginning of the project.

Sweet potato in Uganda is regarded as the third most important starchy staple crop after cassava and bananas, according to the NARO, with annual production standing at about 4.5 million tonnes compared with 5.5 million tonnes in Tanzania and 10 million tonnes per hectare in Kenya.

Ranked first in Africa and second globally only after China in the production of sweet potato, its productivity has remained low due to a number of factors including pests, diseases, limited availability of improved varieties and poor husbandry practices.

Having been known as an African orphan crop, sweet potato economic value in the country remains scanty, with limited data on exports.

Sweet potato production in Uganda is commonly grown in northern, eastern, and western regions, either as a staple food, complement, reserve during famine or a source of income to the rural population.

Dr. Gorrettie Ssemakula, a plant breeder at NARO told The EastAfrican that sweet potato especially the orange-fleshed variety is also rich in Vitamin A that could help fight malnutrition in children.

Uganda Farmers Federation President Charles Ogang said the drought tolerant sweet potato varieties will help farmers boost production and incomes amidst the escalating drought.

“For some time now, we have not been marketing sweet potatoes. But we are planning to carry out sensitisation to our farmers on its potential market in the region soon especially for the orange-fleshed varieties,” Mr. Ogang said.

Uganda grows mainly white or cream-fleshed sweet potato and the release of the new crop varieties could boost food security as well as animal feeds.

So far, NARO through the National Sweet potato Program developed and released 20 varieties between 1995 and 2010, of which, seven were orange-fleshed while 13 were non-orange.

Uganda’s scientists are also hopping to start confined trials of genetically modified strains of potato designed to be resistant to Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato blight, in July this year.

The scientists have filed an application to the National Biosafety Committee seeking permission to carry out confined field trials. End

Two Nation Media Group journalists have won awards in agriculture.

By Michael J. Ssali

CAMBRIDGE- UK-The Daily Monitor’s Lominda Afedraru emerged the best science writer in the two-year- media fellowship --- Bio-sciences for Farming in Africa.

Mr Isaac Khisa of The EastAfrican emerged the best business coverage writer and he was praised for his in-depth coverage by the judges, Julia Vitullo-Martin and Sharon Schmickle --- both senior journalists based in the US.

Ms Lominda was praised for her active, intensive and accurate coverage of agricultural science farming activities and bio-technology development in Uganda.

About 160 journalists from Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda participated in the fellowship that was coordinated in Cambridge University with funding from the John Templeton Foundation based in the USA

Nineteen of the best performing journalists were invited to spend a week-long meeting in the UK and to attend the crowning events of the fellowship.

The journalists were graded according to the quality of their published or broadcast work over the two-year-period of the fellowship.

Other award winners included Mr Pascal Boris Bagonza of Uganda’s Radio Sapienzia, who was praised for carrying out the best radio coverage of farming and food security issues.

Ms Arthur Adelaide of Multimedia Group/Joy News in Ghana emerged the best TV farming journalist in the fellowship. Mr Abdallah el Kurebe of Nigeria’s Newswatch Magazine/Vanguard was another winner praised for his in-depth coverage.

Mr Akiwunmi Kole Dawudu of News Agency of Nigeria was said to have presented the best ‘body of work-spot news’ by the judges, while Mr Said Mmanga of Changamoto Media Limited, Tanzania, scooped the award for the best coverage in an African Language (Kiswahili).

The award took place at St Edmund College Cambridge on April 10. The function also was attended by several other agricultural scientists from the UK, Africa, the USA, India and the Philippines.

See the story: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/NMG-journalists--win-international-agriculture-awards/-/688334/2280914/-/jhv85az/-/index.html

NMG journalists scoop awards

Ester Oluka

KAMPALA-Uganda-Four Nation Media Group (NMG) journalists have scooped top prizes at the inaugural National Journalism Awards initiated by the Africa Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), a non-profit organisation offering non-academic training for media practitioners.
The four, who were crowned on Wednesday night at a colourful ceremony in Kampala, were among the 14 winners who walked away with Shs2.5m each, a plaque and a certificate.

The Daily Monitor’s Edgar R. Batte and Agatha Ayebazibwe emerged winners in the sports and health categories respectively, while NTV’s Solomon Serwanja and The East African’s Isaac Khisa topped the national broadcast and business and finance categories.

Mr Batte was recognised for his story titled “Kyobe, Lutwama: Two brothers with their stars shining brightly.” The judges commended the story, which was about the rising stars of two cricketer brothers, for breaking through long-held biases and assumptions to present a riveting tale of the cricketers.

Ms Ayebazibwe, who is Daily Monitor’s health writer, was commended for her story “When prostate cancer runs in the family”. The story stood out because of its employment of expert sources to explain causes and treatment of prostate cancer.

NTV’s Serwanja was awarded for his story on terrorism, which judges said was a relevant wakeup call to the public and national security officials to raise the challenge of averting terror attacks.

Mr Khisa of The East African newspaper emerged top in the business, finance and economy reporting for his story “Uganda’s new tax will raise calling rates, hurt integration”.

According to Dr Peter Mwesige, ACME executive director, the awards event was the culmination of a year-long and painstaking process of recognising excellence in Uganda’s journalism.

“We were impressed by the enthusiasm with which journalists responded to our call for entries. By January 15, 2014 deadline, we had received more than 220 entries, which, to our knowledge, is a first in Uganda, if not in the region,” he said.

The chief guest at the function, Lady Justice Irene Mulyagonja, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), urged journalists to take the news value of accuracy seriously.

“Avoid misleading the readers, viewers and listeners. Always ensure to verify your information before it is published,” she said.
Winners commended

Daily Monitor’s Executive Editor Malcolm Gibson praised the winners and the function’s organisers.
“The journalism and journalists recognised, especially our own, but all of them, set examples we should follow on all the stories we do each and every day. So all the stories should be beacons to follow in our goal to become the most respected newspaper in Africa,” he said.

The awards which are the first of their kind were open to all journalists, full- time and freelance, working in Uganda for work published or broadcast between January and December 2013.

They will be held annually to recognise and promote excellence in reporting and to inspire quality journalism in the country.
Other winners and their media houses

Ronald Musoke (The Independent)-best agriculture reporting for his story “ Food politics.” He also won best national news reporting for print for the story “Marriage and Divorce Bill-100 years of acrimony and disappointment”.

Caroline Ariba (The New vision) - best arts and culture reporting for her story “how come emaali composer is a pauper?”
Paschal Bagonza (Radio Sapientia) - best environment reporting for his story “Energy efficient cook stoves”.

Haggai Matsiko (The Independent)-best explanatory reporting for his story “Nebanda death reports: New evidence shows how suspects could walk free.” He also won best extractives reporting for the story “Oil refinery threatened: World Bank sucked into compensation wrangle”.

Andrew Masinde (The New Vision) - best features reporting for the story “Raised by monkeys, Mayanja still struggles to be human”.
Charles Etukuri (The New Vision)-best Investigations reporting for the story “Cocaine:

The addiction that started as a joke”.
Emmanuel Ojok (Radio Pacis)-best news reporting for the story “Baby dumped, vultures carry foetus on tree”
Gerald Businge (Africulture.org) - best multimedia reporting for the story “fake seeds widespread”.

Edward Ssekika (The Observer)-best politics reporting for his story “District chairpersons stranded with big titles but no power”.



See the story: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/NMG-journalists-scoop-awards/-/688334/2274862/-/item/0/-/1cxb7yz/-/index.html

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

Agriculture policy research in Uganda gets $5 million grant

The Netherlands’s Government is investing $5 million to support a four-year research on policies seeking to improve agriculture productivity in Uganda.

The project dubbed Policy Action for Sustainable Intensification of Ugandan Cropping Systems will be hosted by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Uganda, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Economic Policy Research Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute.

The research will be carried out in south western highlands for Irish potatoes and Lake Kioga plains of eastern Uganda for rice. The two zones are characterised by high population pressure, small farm sizes of less than two hectares with no option for expansion, making traditional farming unsustainable.

IITA’s country repressive Piet Van Asten said the research aims to ensure that the evidence on constraints and opportunities for intensification of two cropping systems are gathered and communicated, zonal investment plans are prepared and owned by key stakeholders as well as actions are initiated for the removal of bottlenecks in national polices relevant to agricultural intensification.

“We believe that PASIC will generate vital knowledge and evidence for decision makers to plan public investments and attract responsible private entities,” Mr. Piet said.

Mr. Piet said PASIC will focus on major constraints hampering effective agriculture policy actions including fragmentation of the roles and mandates in the agriculture sector, largely due to establishment of several autonomous agencies in the agriculture ministry, insufficient funding, inadequate human resources, lengthy policy formulation and implementation as well as duplication of programmes.

The project will mainly target small holder farmers who have the capacity to intensify production through improved agronomic practices, market-oriented production or increased use of inputs.

Dutch Ambassador to Uganda Alphons Hennekens said the country’s improved agriculture productivity lies in the intensification of cropping systems by using fertilisers, improved seeds, good agronomic practices and attracting investors for buying farmers produce.

Uganda’s rice production currently stands at 250 metric tonnes per year despite of the high demand for the crop that has nearly doubled, said Agriculture Minister Tress Bucyanayandi, adding that Irish potato production has also remained low.

IITA is a Nigerian based non-profit agriculture organisation started in 1967,   working with other partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture, with the ultimate goals of reducing hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

IITA's research-for-development focuses on addressing the development needs of tropical countries across Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EAC now eyes promoting aquaculture even as fish in Lake Victoria surges

The East African Community is now eyeing at promoting aquaculture in the region to boost food security and export earnings even as fish in Lake Victoria starts to increase.

EAC’s Deputy Secretary General Jessica Eriyo said the secretariat is developing a programme that will encourage farmers in the region embrace fish farming.

“So far, we have brought together experts on aquaculture across the region and development partners including Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to look at the opportunities, challenges and to come up with some measures to address those challenges,” Ms. Eriyo said.

Ms. Eriyo said the secretariat has met twice with the stakeholders to work on the programme expected to be rolled out next year.

Ms. Eriyo said the new progamme is expected to boost the region’s export fish earnings given that the demand for fish within and outside the region especially Europe continues to grow.

Aquaculture, which involves cultivating fresh water and saltwater populations of fish under controlled conditions as opposed to catching fish in the wild, is one of the world’s fastest growing sources of animal protein, projected to raise 33 percent over by 2020, to reach to 79 million tonnes, says Food and Agricultural Organisation report 2012 on the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture.

EAC states exports most of its fish to Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, Belgium, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Greece, and France. Other importers includes; Turkey, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Egypt, and the United States of America.

Dr. Oliva Mkumbo, the programme's focal person at the Jinja –based Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) told The EastAfrican that whereas fishing sector in Lake Victoria is showing signs of recovery, a lot is still needed to curb illegal fishing especially of Nile Perch as well as promote aquaculture in the region.

 “There’s a sign of recovery but not that significant,” Dr. Mkumbo said, adding that not only illegal fishing is hampering the growth of the region’s fishing  sector  but also those using illegal fishing gears.

LVFO data shows that fish export earnings from three East African Countries-Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania- registered a 17 per cent growth in earnings in 2012 citing strict measure to curb illegal fishing and high prices at the international market.

 However, LVFO and fish exporters and exporters in the region could not state changes in prices on the international market due to continued price fluctuations on different markets.

The region exported 74,540 tonnes last year worth $340.7 million compared with 56, 040 tonnes worth $291 million exported in 2011.

In spite of the continued growth trend of the region’s fish export earnings between 1992 and 1998, the sector has since then undergone numerous challenges including illegal fishing and market shocks that have continued to affect the region’s export earnings.

For instance, the region’s fish export earnings declined from $ 130.6 million in 1998 to $ 122.7 million in 1999 when the European Union banned fresh fish imports from eastern Africa because of the cholera epidemic that hit Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The export volumes also declined from 61, 900 tonnes in 1998 to 49,600 tonnes in 1999.

And between 2008 and   2011, the regions export volumes as well as earnings also decline tremendously from 71.700 tonnes worth $ 323.4million to merely 56,000tonnes worth $ 291 million due to illegal fishing and the effects of the euro-crisis.

The effects of the 2008 global financial crisis led to a decline in demand for fish in Europe in as countries tried to put in measures to meet the rising cost of living.

This year, the total world’s fish production, according to FAO, is projected to reach over 160 million tonnes.

Fish production is projected to reach 161.2 million tonnes by the close of 2013, showing a 2.9 per cent growth compared with 2012 whereas the value of exports is expected to grow by two per cent to $ 130.8billion.

 

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.

Uganda GMO maize trials shows promising results

Results from the ongoing confined trials in Uganda on genetically modified maize that is resistant to the stem-borer are having promising results with the transgenic lines planted early this year showing complete resistance to the pest.

Ugandan scientists introduced Bacillus Thuringiensis, a naturally occurring soil bacterium that protects crops against pests, to maize stock obtained from South Africa to create resistance to the devastating stalk-borers (Chilo partellus and Busseola fusca). The trials are part of a three-year research project under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project that started in 2008.

WEMA is a sub-regional, public-private partnership project between the Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and national agro-research systems of five sub-Saharan African countries — Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.

Michael Otim, the principal project investigator at the National Crop Resources Research Institute, Namulonge, told The EastAfrican that all the eight lines of GM maize planted in the confined field trial at the foothill of Mt Rwenzori, western Uganda, have proved resistant to the pest compared with the 12 lines of non-GM maize.

Dr Otim said the next phase will involve a second trial at Namulonge in central Uganda.

Stalk-borers are a class of pest made up of a number of moth species that lay their eggs at night on the underside of emerging leaves of young maize plants.

The larvae, or caterpillars, that hatch from the eggs, quickly make their way inside the plant, where they feed on the crop undisturbed.

Scientists say stalk-borers in Uganda are currently rampant in Kasese, western Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania; causing at least 20 per cent crop loss for farmers every year.

Scientists say if the research on the GM maize proves successful in the subsequent trials, the crop could be commercialised in the country by 2017 subject to the enactment of the biotechnology law.

Commercial release

The National Biosafety Bill, which intends to introduce biotechnology seeds and allow commercial release of GM products from ongoing research into the market, is currently before parliament for approval.

Uganda’s trials on BT maize are being carried out in tandem with those for transgenic drought-resistant (DT) maize as well as stalk-borer resistance using conventional methods.

Kenya is also carrying out confined fields trials on the GM maize resistant to the pest at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

Research on GM maize in Uganda comes at a time when some countries including South Africa are battling with the pest even after resorting to GM maize that is supposed to be resistant to it.

Last year, stalk-borer was discovered feeding on GM maize in South Africa even after farmers applied the refugee land strategy in managing the new generation of hard-to-kill pests.

Interview with Mark Lynas, Anti GM activist turned Pro-GM supporter.

 

The fear for consuming genetically modified foods in sub-Saharan Africa is being imported from abroad, Europe in particular. Billions of dollars are now going in funding NGO’s engaged in promoting fear and superstition about GM foods. ISAAC KHISA and STEVE MBOGO caught up with Mark Lynas during his tour in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania under the auspices of Open Forum of Agricultural Biotechnology to give lecturers on GM foods and here are the excerpts:



Mark Lynas

Presently many African countries do not allow growing of GM crops except South Africa, Burkina Faso, Egypt and now Sudan, citing lack of legal frameworks. What needs to be done to necessitate easy adoption of the GM crops?

 

There are two things that need to happen. One is that regulatory frameworks need to be established, like the Biosafety Bill now being considered by Parliament in Uganda. This would give the scientists the legal context they need to proceed with their important work, rather than being in a state of constant political uncertainty.

The second thing that needs to happen is for the general public to be better informed about the technology - all the lies about GM crops making you sterile, incorporating genes from pigs and so on need to be more aggressively confronted. People need to understand that these crops are identical to others except for the single genetic change which scientists are aiming for, such as resistance to diseases or drought. The misconceptions must be tackled.

There have been views by a section of people proposing the GM foods be identified with labelling as it is demanded by some countries in Europe. Do GM and non-GM foods differ in appearance or taste? What is your comment on this?

I visited the GMO cassava which is in field trials at National Crops Resources Research Institute in Namulonge - the cassava is identical to any other, except that it is much healthier because it seems to be successfully resisting the disease. People should go and see this for themselves. The same goes for the banana, although I cannot say for sure because you are not allowed to taste them yet! I ate some GMO papaya recently in the US and it was the nicest I have ever had - even better than the paw paw here in Uganda!

As to labelling, I think that would be completely unworkable here in Uganda, where 80 percent or more of food is sold in open air markets. Once the food is assessed as safe, people should just treat it like any other and stop listening to scare stories.

As you have clearly stated that they look and even taste better than organic crops, why have people especially in Sub Saharan African continued to fear consuming GM foods?

Because this fear is imported from abroad, Europe in particular. There are billions of dollars now going in funding to the NGOs which are promoting fear and superstition about GM foods. Being an NGO activist is a lucrative professional career choice, which can make more money than going into business. NGO people claim to be 'instant expert' and to be always included in major decisions as 'civil society'. I would question the legitimacy of many of these organisations. Also this is a great waste of talent, because there are real challenges that these NGOs should be focusing on - like protecting forests and biodiversity, reducing the terrible traffic pollution that is causing cancer and so on.

What are the likely consequences if developing countries failed to move faster and adopt the growing of GM crops?

Clearly GM crops are not the single solution. They may not even be the most important - farmers need to have irrigation, fertilisers and better roads so they can take surplus produce to market without it being spoiled and wasted. But if GM banana and cassava are prohibited, for example, then it is likely these crops will be lost from much of eastern and central Africa because of the bacterial and viral diseases that are affecting them - they simply will be wiped out, removing a major staple food source for tens of millions of people. There are no naturally resistant banana varieties to the bacterial wilt disease, so they will all die. This would clearly be very bad news for food security.

Over the years, you have been renowned anti-GM activists, an environmental writer, who even went ahead to form a movement against the GM crops. Why have you changed your mind now? Have you been bribed or what informed your decision?

I am always asked this because people want an excuse to try to attack me personally rather than to engage with the science or my arguments. I have never received any money from any company involved in the GM business, and I never will. My change of heart came about because I wanted to be a better science communicator and a better environmentalist - and you do not achieve that by fighting against scientific facts.

What should developing countries especially sub-Saharan Africa do given that there are so many controversies surrounding GM crops especially those proposing as well as those opposing it?

The controversy is fake. One, one side you have activists peddling lies and misinformation, which they get from the Internet or from their donors in Europe. On the other there are scientists who make very cautious statements because they want to stick to the facts. It is very much like climate change, where one side you have those who deny the science, and on the other people who try to assess the situation rationally.

Based on your research and having involved in GM issues for a longtime, do you think GM crops are the solution to food shortages in sub-Saharan Africa and is it the right time for Africa to resort to GMOs?

That is up to different African countries to decide. But I would suggest that their decisions would be better made on facts rather than on fiction. It would always be too simplistic to say that GM crops are "the solution", but all other things remaining equal, if you are in a drought and you have a drought-tolerant GM maize then you will likely get a better harvest. If you are in an area badly affected by cassava brown streak virus and you want to grow this crop for food security, you will be better off with a GM variety which is resistant to the disease. And so on for banana and the other crops which are being proposed.

The anti-GM activists, including yourself before you changed your mind have argued that GM crops have both health as well as environmental hazards. What is your take on this; what is your evidence to show that foods from GM crops are safe?

It is not 'my' evidence which is the issue - I am not a scientist. I have not personally tested these crops (except to eat GM foods in various countries without fear, of course) so I insist that people who are unsure should get their information from the experts rather than the activists. It is the same as if you maybe have an illness, and all of the doctors say you should have treatment, but a taxi driver says you should forget about it and take the chance. Who would you trust? Those who know what they are talking about because they have sufficient training or the uninformed person? On GM, the experts say it is completely safe: all the major relevant scientific institutions in the world have issued statements to that effect. Even so, you have to look at these things on a case by case basis - different techniques are used in different plants which could have different effects. That is why they are so extensively tested in field trials and so on before being released. But for the last 10 years with billions of people eating GM foods across the whole world, no-one has even had a headache - that is why this is a fake controversy. Food is food.

Could you comment on the issue that growing GM crops will enslave farmers in developing countries as they will be forced to buy seeds every planting season and hence creating markets for the multinational companies such as Monsanto and Syngenta. Is this what is likely to happen if farmers resort to growing GMO’s?

This is nonsense. It is another myth which will not die. The cassava which is being developed will be able to be propagated like any other, as will the banana. So once farmers have it, it will remain in their control. All this language about 'farmer enslavement' comes from activists who do not want African farmers to be able to access modern technology and romanticise the 'traditional' agriculture which is currently failing to feed people and leaving millions with malnutrition.

How do you look at the future of GM crops in Africa? Do you think growing GM crops is likely to speed up population growth in developing countries given that there will be enough food and the vicious cycle of food shortage continues?

I find the population growth argument abhorrent and immoral. You should always aim to feed people, having enough food is a human right. You should not keep people in near starvation to try to stop them having more children. Maybe we should just stop vaccination campaigns so that children all die before they can grow up? That would also reduce population growth. It would also be a crime against humanity.

Now that you are a supporter of GM crops, what is your view on those against the GM foods in Uganda and other developing countries?

I am not pro-GM, I am pro-choice. All the farmer leaders I have met in Uganda say they would like the choice to decide for themselves what to grow, and not be dictated to by foreign-sponsored activists. If they want to stay with the traditional seeds, then farmers have that right. No-one is going to come onto their farms and stop them saving their own seed. But the truth is they will then continue to have very low yields and to remain in food insecurity. With improved seeds (I am thinking even of hybrids, not necessarily GMO), yields of things like maize can be four times what you get from the traditional varieties. So farmers who want them also have that right. Africa very quickly adopted mobile phones and the internet, so the idea that places like Uganda are not "ready" for modern technology in agriculture is I think reactionary and patronising.

Who is Mark Lynas?

Mark Lynas is a British author, journalist and environmental activist who focus on climate change and GMOs. Formerly, he was against GM foods before changing to become pro-GM crops.

He is the author of several books on the subjects. In November 2009 Mark was appointed advisor on climate change to the President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, and was involved in the Maldives’ effort to be the first carbon neutral country on Earth by 2020, and its role in the international climate change process, until Nasheed was deposed in a military coup on 7 February 2012.

He is a frequent speaker around the world on climate change, biotechnology and nuclear power. He is a Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University’s School of Geography and the Environment, a member of the advisory board of the science advocacy group Sense About Science, and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies, which produces an annual top 10 list of the technologies with most potential to change the way we all live. Ends