Kenya agrees to grow GM crops
Michael J. Ssali
As the debate rages on in Uganda whether or not to adopt Genetically Modified (GM) crops in the country, our neighbour, Kenya, is set to become the fourth country in Africa South of the Sahara to begin commercial growing of GM crops, after South Africa, Sudan and Nigeria, according to an article published in the digital edition of the New Agri-Business Global Magazine, dated October 1 2019.
Kenya had banned the technology in 2012, following a controversial and discredited study report by Gilles-Eric Seralini, which alleged that GMOs cause cancer.
The decision by Kenya to lift the ban, according to the article, comes hot on the heels of widespread European Union-funded studies that have validated the safety of GM crops.
“As a country, we feel lifting the ban is prudent in order to fully benefit from the GM technology,” Dorington Ogoyi chief executive officer of Kenya’s National Bio-safety Authority is quoted as saying.
The country is said to have made significant progress in enacting strict regulation and research on such crops as GM maize, GM cotton, GM cassava, GM sorghum, and GM sweet potato. Commercial cultivation of GM cotton is aimed at reviving the country’s textile and apparels industry.
Dr Charles Waturu, Principal Researcher for GM cotton at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) said: “From trials simultaneously conducted across the country GM cotton yielded more than four times what farmers have been harvesting using local varieties. GM cotton also recorded much faster maturity duration of 130 days compared to 170 days for local varieties.”
According to the publication, Kenya’s successful commercialisation of GM cotton will increase textile and apparels revenue from $350m to $2b, creating 500,000 cotton jobs and 100,000 apparel jobs by 2022. Kalro has also researched on GM maize engineered with reduced levels of insect manifestation, which is central in Kenya’s food security since maize is a staple food in the country.
Denis Tumwesigye Kyetere, the Executive director of Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is reported to have said: “We want to bring new technologies not available to farmers, so that they can increase yields.”
