GMO fears frustrate passage of Plant Breeders Bill in Ghana

For the past three years, Ghana’s scientific community has clamored for the passage of the Plant Breeders Right (PBR) Bill to protect their intellectual property rights.

The bill, which has been shelved after some parliamentary debate, will allow commercial end-users of research products to pay royalties to the scientists and their institutions.

Research scientists at the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), who have been pushing for the passage of the Bill, have stated that the PBR Law will be in the interest of farmers and the seed industry as it will be for scientists.

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mahama Ayariga, during a recent visit to the CRI, observed efforts to get the bill passed have been frustrated because there is an atmosphere of fear among parliamentarians and policy makers.

“There are many people who have spent so much time trying to misrepresent the real intention behind the Plant Breeders Bill and that has delayed the passage of the bill,” he said.

Some advocacy groups, including the Food Sovereignty Ghana and the Coalition for Farmers’ Right, have kicking against the bill in its current form.

They have argued the bill will pave way for importation of genetically modified foods into the country, as well as compromise farmers’ rights in accessing seedlings for planting.

“They are using fears around GMO – genetically modified organisms – to confuse the public and to frighten the public and to create a certain disaffection for the Plant Breeders Bill based on fears that people have around GMOs,” noted Mahama Ayariga.

The Minister therefore wants intensified advocacy for passage of the bill into law to enable local researchers benefit from the use of their products, especially in other countries.

He has also made a strong case for the country to advance its biotechnology capabilities to develop crop varieties of higher yield to address the food security issues.

“You may say that let’s put more fertilizer but the very people who are fighting GMO are the very people who are fighting too much chemicals into the system, because lives are in danger if we take too much chemicals…so clearly your only option is biotechnology which does not involve the use of chemicals,” said Mr. Ayariga.

 

The Food Sovereignty Ghana is in court to halt the introduction of GMOs into the country’s food chain.

Meanwhile, Cabinet has given approval for the biosafety regulations to be laid before parliament.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Ghanaian scientists fail to communicate relevance of biotech to public

Public skepticism on the application of biotechnology in Ghana’s agriculture production will persist until education is heightened and sustained for people to make informed choices, says Dr. Peter Twumasi, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, KNUST.

According to him, the scientific community has failed to effectively communicate the relevance and benefit of biotechnology to the public.

“If you are in a scientist and you are in the lab working and you think you’ve found something that is really of importance to the public, you must not avoid communication with the people who are actually the end users,” he noted.

He says such engagements will build public confidence and reduce real or perceived risks associated with every technological innovation to increase usage of product.

Biotechnology involves technological applications that use biological systems, living organisms or their derivatives, to make or modify products or processes.

Pressure groups, especially the Food Sovereignty Ghana, has been vocal against the promotion of genetically modified (GM) foods in Ghana and also resisting passage of the Plant Breeders’ Right Bill currently before parliament Os in Ghana.

Dr. Twumasi however says GM crops have enormous benefits in local agriculture production, especially reduction in use of fertilizer and pesticides by farmers.

The US Embassy has been engaging interest groups on biotechnology awareness creation to strengthen Africa’s capacity for safe management of biotechnology in sub-Saharan Africa for enhanced food security.

Dr. Hans Adu-Dapaah, Director of the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is positive about the acclaimed impacts of modern biotechnology on agriculture, human health and the environment through increased crop yields, drought-tolerant and disease-resistant crop varieties, reduced use of pesticides and herbicides, production of nutritionally enriched foods and affordable vaccines.

 

“It is the gene revolution that holds the only real hope to end hunger,” he opined. “Agricultural biotechnology is a key tool on the development of new crops and promises to deliver stepwise changes in input and quality traits. It is generally accepted that GM crops will be one of the many strategies needed to clothe and fuel nine billion people estimated to be living by the year 2020.”

Dr. Adu-Dapaah however acknowledged genetically modified organisms might be associated with new risks to other organisms and the environment whilst posing significant challenges to policy makers.

“The controversy surrounding biotechnological developments and applications, has led to the development of international treaties and protocols on biosafety, to provide regulatory framework to ensure environmentally safe applications of modern biotechnology in medicine, agriculture and the environment in sustainable manner and avoid endangering public health or limit its damaging effects, if any,” he emphasized.

 

Dr. Twumasi is also advocating local generation of genetically modified crops, including plantain and cassava, rather than depend on importation of crops developed in other countries.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Breeders make progress with confined field trials of GM Rice in Ghana

Commercialization of genetically modified rice in Ghana will not happen within the next five years, based on projections of breeders at the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Trials of the Nitrogen Use Efficient (NUE) Rice – the first-ever genetically modified (GM) crop to be planted in Ghana – took off on confined fields in the Ashanti region early 2013.

“Here we are dealing with nitrogen use efficiency because the farmers cannot apply the recommended rates of nitrogen; we are trying various events (i.e. rice lines) which have been modified to make good use of the little nitrogen in the soil.  If we have an event which is good, we can release it as a variety per se or cross it with an adapted variety,” explained Plant Breeder, Dr. Maxwell Darko Asante.

It has taken 120 days to harvest the royalty-free rice seeds from the confined fields.

“We have to winnow it, dry it and weigh it before we can draw a conclusion,” says Dr. Kofi Dartey, who is leading the GM Rice project.

 

He is hopeful the analysis of the harvested rice seeds would be completed before end of year, but says it will take between 3-5 year before the produce leaves the confined fields.

The objective of the trials is to look at how farmers can maximize yields per bag of applied fertilizer to enhance Ghana’s food production.

“It’s very important because our farmers are not able to buy fertilizer, so if you have rice which is able to use nitrogen more efficiently, it’s going to give them higher yields,” Dr. Darko Asante noted.

The next trial, he stated, will combine genes for three traits – nitrogen use efficiency, water use efficiency and salt tolerance. This could help farmers spread rice cultivation to marginal areas.

“Once we identify the best events, we either go through the normal varietal release procedures to release that as a variety or we cross them with our adapted variety to introduce the genes into a variety like Jasmine which is already popular,” said the rice breeder.

There is growing controversy between some food experts and civil society organisations over the introduction of genetically modified (GM) food into Ghana.

Dr. Darko Asante however says the safety of GMOs cannot be compromised due to the strict legal regime.

“You have to go strictly by the bio-safety law… so for me they are even safer than the conventional because for the conventional we cross anything and nobody controls us but for GM you have to go through lots of strict controls, so any variety that is passed by the regulatory authorities for release is safe,” he stressed.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh