By
Justine Wangui (Science Africa correspondent)
Email:
justinewangui@gmail.com
Kenyans have been assured
of high safety of agricultural biotechnology. They have also been urged to have
confidence in consumption of biotech products.
This was advocated by speakers during the Open Forum on Agricultural
Biotechnology (OFAB) Kenya chapter which was conducted at Safari Club Hotel in
Nairobi on Thursday 26th February 2015. The annual global status of commercialized
biotech crops was launched and Kenya’s biotech and biosafety capacity was discussed.
Hon (Dr) Robert Pukose
MP, Endebess and vice Chair, Parliamentary committee on Health confidently
remarked that Genetically Modified foods and health products are safe for
consumption. “We should let Kenyans know
that GMO products are the safest for consumption since they are carefully
analyzed by scientific experts before being released to the market. Kenya must lift the ban on GMO importation,”
he said.
Biotechnology is not as
a replacement of the traditional farming methods but it complements other
efforts. One of the objectives of
biotechnology is to incorporate the traditional methods of production for
efficient products.
The chairman of
Kenyatta University Biotech Consortium (KUBICCO), Dr. Oduor said that Kenya has
adequate research facilities, regulatory platforms, government’s goodwill and
human capacity needed to create confidence in Biotech products. Research institutions such as Kenyatta University
plant Transformation Lab (PTL) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
have highly trained personnel in Genetic Modification technology. The Biosafety
Act of 2009 is an enough indication that the government is in support of GMO
products. He said that, “As a country,
we are good to go. We have all the
required facilities that are needed in trusting the Genetically Modified
products. We have the support from the
government, qualified personnel and research institutes as well as functional
regulatory systems. With the increasing global population which is currently at
7, 297653341, we need to incorporate GMO food in our systems in order to cope
with starvation. “
He cited some
genetically modified products in health which have been approved effective and
safe for use. They included a drug for Ebola management called Zmapp,
genetically modified insulin for lowering Diabetes and Elelviso, a drug that
treats a bone disease known as Gauncher’s disease.
Records are showing
that the developing countries are almost catching up with the developed
countries in biotechnology farming. In
her presentation, Dr. Magret Karembu, Director International Service for the
Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) Africenter displayed the
results of a research carried out by a European group who analyzed 147 data
sets. They showed that GM crops have
increased yield by 22% in a period of 19 years that is from the year 1996 to
the year 2014. The global crops leading
in biotech are maize, cotton canola and soybeans. There is significant
potential for growth in use of biotech crops in the future. The future trends
in biotech crop’s use are expansion and improvement of current biotech crops,
progress with drought tolerance, success of public-private partnerships and
increase of food products for direct consumer benefits.
However, challenges
such as ignorance from farmer are, ageing farmers, youths shunning away from
agriculture and climatic changes are drawing back Biotechnology use.
Dr. Karembu said that
biotechnology is aiming towards making agriculture attractive for youths so
that they can stop evading it as it has many opportunities. She suggested that biotechnology can be
improved by strong political goodwill with consistent policies, sustained
communication with society and efficient regulatory processes.
