SEYI TAIWO-OGUNTUASE
As part of efforts to enlighten and provide a platform to share ideas and insights on biotechnology and GMOs application in Nigeria’s agricultural system, the Centre for 21st Century Issues and Nigeria CSOs Network on Climate Change organised a virtual meeting where experts brainstormed for informed decisions.
The meeting had in attendance civil society organizations, academia and representatives from government agencies among others.
Dr. Rose Gidado, Director, Agricultural Biotechnology Department at the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NBMA) in her presentation titled; ‘Overview of Biotechnology and Importance of GMOs Application for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security’ stated that Nigeria is one of the most populous countries in Africa with a rapidly growing population that is expected to reach 400 million by 2050 and that agriculture is a critical sector contributing significantly to the nation’s GDP and employing a large portion of the population.
According to her, agriculture in Nigeria faces numerous challenges including low productivity, pests, and diseases, climate change, and post-harvest losses.
She said the population is increasing and conventional plant improvement methods are reaching their limits, that agricultural growth is now 1 percent compared to 3 percent in the 1970s.
While highlighting some benefits of GMOs, Gidado explained that GMOs ensure improved crop yields, food security, pest and insect resistance, water conservation-drought tolerance, economic growth, and empowerment of smallholder farmers.
On concerns raised on GMOs which include safety and health risks, environmental impacts, ethical and moral concerns, patenting and ownership of genetic resources, and unequal access and benefits, she explained that in addressing some of these concerns, GM crops are rigorously tested for safety and regulated by governments worldwide stating that in Nigeria, the National Biosafety Management Agency is the National Competent Authority on the safety of GMOs and it conducts intensive examination for safety.
“Biotechnology and GMOs hold significant promise for transforming Nigeria’s agricultural system, offering solutions to food security, sustainability, and economic challenges.
She added that collaborative efforts, informed policies and public engagement will be key to realizing biotechnology’s full potential in Nigeria’s agriculture.
However, she commended the CSOs stating that they play a crucial role role in shaping public discourse and influencing policy decisions on biotechnology and GMOs in Nigeria’s agricultural system.
Professor Qrisstuberg Amua, the Executive Director of, Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR) in his presentation on ‘Ethical Concerns Related to Altering Natural Organism-Challenges/Controversies’ noted that agriculture is rapidly changing as a result of advances in molecular biology, genomics, and biotechnology and application of genomics to agriculture which has raised important concerns and questions about scientific, ethical, and social issues.
He said agricultural varieties produced by direct genetic modification are now being approved for planting, and products from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are widespread in the market.
He stated that many concerns about GMOs and long-term effects are not being monitored.
He raised concerns that GMOs have not been around long enough and that the effect on the food supply is unknown, as foods that contain GMOs are not being labeled.
Also, he highlighted such issues as the ethics or morality of introducing genes into vastly different species; the control of agriculture by large multinational companies, and the right of consumers to know what is in their food.
Additionally, he highlighted food safety, escapees, contamination, hybridization, food sovereignty, and depopulation agenda as part of the challenges and controversies around GMOs.
Professor Victor Olumekun, Professor of Plant Science, at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, who made his presentation on ‘Contribution of Biotechnology and GMOs to Food Security in Nigeria, stated that the key issues are sustainable agriculture and food security and biotechnology becomes employed as a tool.
He said that crop protection and improvement in Nigeria is by virtue of the environment and has advantage over the rest of the world in some crops such as; cowpea, cassava and cocoa while nations like Malaysia and Indonesia have overtaken Nigeria in oil palm improvement.
According to him, maize is too widely researched because the first world will not let it off despite the apparent disadvantage of climate knowing the importance of the crop to food security.
He pointed out that a few years ago, after a lot of dithering Nigeria came up with a national biotechnology policy, with the overall objective of providing a regulatory regime and guidance for the sustainable development of the science of modern biotechnology, its application and safe use of its product without prejudice and risk to public health, environmental health, national sovereignty, human dignity and fundamental human right.
He pointed out that biotechnological tools have greatly contributed to the production and supply of improved quality seed, noting that seed production as well as other planting materials have benefited immensely from the application of biotechnology.
“The technology can be utilized to silence genes to improve traits in horticulture, used to target genes in phytophagous and disease-causing organisms, which presents a sort of pesticide devoid of chemicals.
Unfortunately, according to him, facilities in Nigeria present a challenge hence they rely on imported input, adding that basic seeds like tomato, cucumber, and pepper among others are now imported and they have to return them yearly to the suppliers because obtaining materials for succeeding season as before is no longer possible.
However, Joyce Brown, Director of Programmes, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), in her presentation on ‘Potential Impact of GMOs on Health and Environment In Nigeria’ said that GMOs are not the solution to Nigeria’s food problem because GMO promoters do not tell people in-depth scientific comparison of a GM crop and its non- GM counterpart showing that the assumption of substantial equivalence is false, as unexpected differences have been found.
She said that GM SOY had 12-14 percent lower amounts of Isoflavones than non-GM SOY, Canola (oilseed Rape) engineered to contain Vitamin A in its oil had much reduced Vitamin E and an altered oil-fat composition, compared with non- GM Canola.
She said experimental GM Rice varieties had unintended major nutritional disturbances compared with non-GM counterparts, and that BT Maize of the variety MON810 AJEEB YG showed significant differences from its Isogenic non-GM counterpart.
She pointed out that the nutritional value is of concern because it could directly affect the health of the human consuming it by providing an excess or shortage of certain nutrients.
According to her, “It is an indicator that the genetic engineering process could have altered biochemical processes in the plant. This could signify those other unexpected changes that have also occurred that might impact human health, such as altered toxicity or allergenicity.
She said that Nigerian communities and farmers in the last decade are steadily being ensnared into growing and consuming GM Crops emphasising that most Nigerian farmers are uneducated, and 52.07 percent of the farmers had either not heard of or know of any benefits, risks, or costs of GM crops, including Nigerian elites who are largely uninformed about GMOs.
Brown stated that the argument that GM is needed to secure future food production simply reflects corporate interests.
Speaking further she said there is a growing body of evidence connecting GMOs with health issues, environmental damage, and violations of consumers’ and farmers’ rights.
According to her, GMOs have been banned in 16 EU countries, four Asian countries, two African countries, four countries in the Americas, and recently five states in the USA in 2023.
She added that 64 countries currently require manufacturers to label foods with GMOs, but 26 countries have banned them altogether.
She, however, recommended that the real solution to solve Nigeria’s food security problem is to address the root cause of poverty, inflation, insecurity, conflicts, and gender discrimination.
Also, she encouraged investment in agroecology -an agriculture system that can transform Nigeria’s food system, repairing ecological damage, ensuring stable and optimum productivity, and building biodiversity, and nutritional diversity, including increased support for smallholder farmers who currently produce over 70 percent of Nigeria’s food and in addition climate change adaptation.
Similarly, she said GMOs only attempt to address the symptoms of major underlying issues while increasing profit for their proponents, stating that the price to pay in terms of ecological damage, loss of biodiversity, health, and economic implications far outweigh any momentary advantages they may seem to have.
“It is important for the Nigerian government to consider the peculiarity of the Nigerian agriculture landscape and adopt the right approach which is agroecology. This will not only ensure food security but more importantly food sovereignty.
“There is no possible way that our health authorities can test all possible combinations on a large enough population, over a long enough period of time to be able to say with absolute certainty that they are harmless.
“So, if anybody ever tells you that GMOs are completely safe for consumption, it’s not true. We just don’t know enough about them to make such a categorical conclusion. A lot of evidence actually points to the contrary,” she added.
Read the full article here
