The Nation Newspaper

Tag: GMOs

  • ‘GMOs safe , will ensure food security’

    ‘GMOs safe , will ensure food security’

    The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the adoption of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and their products in the country is not meant to endanger lives but rather to enhance food security and improve nutritional outcomes.

    Speaking during a One Day Sensitisation Workshop on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) organised by the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Nigeria, for the Directorate officers, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare,  the Director General of the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, cited major successes from biotechnology applications.

    Mustapha, who was represented by the Director of Environmental Biotechnology and Bioconservation, Dr. Oyedele Julius,  reaffirmed that biotechnology holds the key to Nigeria’s food security and economic revival, with tangible evidence already emerging from genetically modified crops adopted in the country.

     He noted that TELA maize has boosted farmers’ yields by over 50 percent while reducing pesticide use; pod-borer resistant cowpea (Bt/PBR cowpea) has cut down on insecticide sprays and raised incomes; while Bt cotton has significantly improved harvests in cotton-producing regions.

    “These are not mere theoretical claims; they represent real harvests impacting real families,” Prof. Mustapha stated. “Reduced crop losses mean a more stable food supply, lower food prices, and fewer nutrition shocks. Reduced pesticide use lowers public health risks to rural communities and agricultural workers.”

    He emphasised that biotechnology directly aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its pillars on food security and economic recovery, adding that Nigeria’s GMO regulatory framework is robust, transparent and science-driven.

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    In his remarks, Director and National Coordinator of the Food Safety and Quality Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. John O. Atanda,  stressed the importance of building the ministry’s capacity to engage in national dialogue on food safety and modern nutrition technologies.

    “At a time when debates on biotechnology dominate the media, it is important that officers are equipped with evidence-based knowledge to engage with the public and dispel misconceptions.

    “Every GMO product will be held to the highest safety standards, covering allergenicity, nutritional composition, long-term health impacts, and environmental considerations.”

    The Director of the Agricultural Biotechnology Department at NBRDA, Dr. Rose Gidado,  reiterated the need to build local research capacity and technical infrastructure to sustain adoption of GM crops. She called for investment in training African scientists, fair seed distribution systems, and partnerships between universities, research institutes, and international organizations.

    “Our transgenic crop lines represent more than scientific breakthroughs, a2they embody hope, resilience, and the prospect of a brighter future for millions in Nigeria,” Gidado said.

    Similarly, Head of OFAB and Biotech Awareness, Iweajunwa Sarah Ogochukwu, urged continuous collaboration between government agencies, scientists, and civil society. She said the workshop sought to “demystify modern biotechnology, showcase the benefits of GM crops, and build confidence in Nigeria’s regulatory framework.”

  • FULL LIST: 30 countries that have banned, restricted import and sale of GMOs

    FULL LIST: 30 countries that have banned, restricted import and sale of GMOs

    Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs, refer to plants, animals, or other living organisms that have undergone some sort of genetic modification generated by genetic engineering or transgenic technology.

    While GMOs are similar to traditional selective breeding, mechanisms are used for the direct insertion of genetic material rather than relying on natural selection processes based on sexual and asexual reproduction.

    Over the years, there have been strongly opposed views on the safety and applicability of GMOs, with two distinct camps clashing on the potential benefits and drawbacks. The debate over their safety, environmental impact, and ethical implications continues.

    Genetically modified seeds are engineered to withstand climate-related challenges such as drought, floods, pests, and diseases, making them attractive in the face of growing food insecurity and climate change.

    Only 64 countries around the world require genetically modified foods to be labelled.

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    These countries include all of the European Union (EU) members, Australia, and Japan, among others. GMOs are not currently labelled in the United States or Canada; however, some products will start to be labelled in the United States

    Several countries around the world have banned the use of GMOs.

    In the European Union, the following countries have banned GMOS: France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Malta, Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia. In Africa, Algeria and Madagascar have banned GMOs, and in Asia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, and Saudi Arabia. Finally, in the Americas, Belize, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela have all banned GMOs. The United States has no official legislation banning GMOs.

    Russia is the most populous country to ban both the cultivation and importation of GMO crops.

    In 2014, Russia banned the importation of biotech crops and officially banned their cultivation, with an exception allowed for scientific research.

    In 2020, Russia reversed the importation ban on soy and has funded research on the development of gene-edited foods within its borders.

    The key battleground in the battle over GMOs has shifted, over the years, from the developed to the developing world.

    The breakdown is as follows:

    European Union: France, Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Malta, Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia

    Other European countries: Switzerland, Russia

    Asia-Pacific: Australia, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Japan, and Saudi Arabia

    Africa: 43 countries in Africa have banned (partially) the growth of GMOs

    Americas: Belize, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

  • Experts to NSA: probe gene edited seeds

    Experts to NSA: probe gene edited seeds

    Some experts in Agriculture and policy have called on the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to pay attention to gene editing, achieved with the aid of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods.

    Country Director of Project Sprint, Israel James, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja, along with some other experts, urged the NSA to be conscious that gene editing is a war tool that is more dangerous than nuclear weapons.

    James urged investigations into gene-edited seeds developed by foreign-owned technology and NGOs funding GMOs.

    He described food insecurity as a national security threat, linking inflation and the killings of farmers in agricultural hubs such as Plateau, Kaduna, Niger and other states of Nigeria to “coordinated economic warfare.”

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    James cited Zimbabwe’s struggle with post-GMO adoption, warning that Nigeria could face worse, even GMOs monopolies.

    The country director of project sprint warned that Nigeria must rise to drive its food security through relevant policies, noting that agencies like USAID, OFAB and others should not be allowed to operate unchecked in the country.

    He said: “If we don’t secure our food basket regions, foreign actors will control our government through hunger.”

    Deputy Director, Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR), Dr. Segun Adebayo, advocated immediate policy reforms to safeguard Nigeria’s food-future.

    He noted that Nigeria’s food sovereignty was not just security but remained non-negotiable with any foreign actors.

    He likened Nigeria’s reliance on foreign entities to outsourcing household food from a hostile neighbour and criticised policies that favour foreign ownership in agriculture, arguing that they have left Nigeria vulnerable to neo-colonial exploitation.

    Adebayo warned that GMO seeds, engineered to become sterile after two harvests, create dependency, allow foreign actors undue influence in Nigeria’s food systems. 

    He said: “It is like inviting a visitor who gradually takes over your home. If foreign corporations control our seeds, they can dictate terms for Nigeria. We must audit our policies and prioritise food sovereignty.”

    Dr. Adebayo renewed calls for the National Assembly to say no to GMOs and increase budgetary allocation to agriculture so that Nigeria does not depend on foreign donors, who are most likely to threaten the country’s food security.

    He also advocated a ban by the Federal Government on gene editing and protecting the country’s biodiversity to guarantee food security.

    Ambassador Michael Nwabufo of Centre for African Policy Research and Advisory (CAPRA) warned against adoption of GMO seeds, stating that they threaten the DNA and food sovereignty of future generations.

    He said GMOs posed dangers such as unintended mutations, cancer risks and immune reactions, accusing foreign entities of pushing harmful agenda.

    Nwabufo said: “NGOs are promoting GMOs, but I trust President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to reject this. If our food is controlled by outsiders, they’ll decide whether we eat or starve. My team will uproot GMO crops and replace them with God-given seeds.”

  • HOMEF, other CSOs rally against GMOs

    HOMEF, other CSOs rally against GMOs

    Thousands of officials of Benin, Edo State-based Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), GMO-Free Nigeria Alliance, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), among others, yesterday rallied against Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs), while calling for natural or organic foods (crops, animals and their products).

    Other stakeholders at the rally included farmers, scientists/researchers, nutritionists, legal and medical practitioners, women and youth groups that called on the Nigerian government to ban GMOs, thereby supporting and promoting agroecology as the viable alternative for food sovereignty and climate resilience in the country.

    Placards on display had these inscriptions: “Nigerians reject GMOs”, “What we eat must not eat us”, “Yes to organic, no to GMOs”, “Support small scale farmers”, “I will not be genetically modified” and “We need GMO-free Nigeria.”

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    The peaceful protesters moved to Edo House of Assembly, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and ended the rally at Government House in the Government Reservation Area (GRA), Benin, where petitions against GMOs were dropped for the government officials who attended to them, for onward transmission to their bosses, in order to ensure quick actions against genetically-modified foods.

    An official of Edo House of Assembly, Anthony Ovbude; administrative officer of Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mrs. Oyinpiriyi Okuofu; and the Chief Security Officer to Governor Monday Okpebholo in Government House received the petitions, and hailed the peaceful nature of the rally.

  • Does Nigeria need GMOs? (1)

    Does Nigeria need GMOs? (1)

    Recently, the House of Representatives moved a motion targeting the suspension of all activities relating to what it terms new GMOs in Nigeria. This decision has sparked or triggered discussion in many circles on the rationale behind such move and has also exposed the ignorance of the members of the Green chamber on scientific matters.

    The move therefore brings to the fore, the age long question being asked in many circles: Does Nigeria need GMOs?

    The question, in this age, is not just whether Nigeria needs GMOs, but how can the country efficiently integrate this technology into its agricultural framework to maximize benefits and minimize risks.

    GMOs present a promising solution to some of Nigeria’s pressing agricultural challenges. While they are not a panacea, their potential to safely enhance food security, improve nutrition, and boost economic growth is significant. By adopting a cautious yet proactive approach, Nigeria can harness the benefits of GMOs, ensuring a more sustainable and food-secure future.

    In most countries of the South, the stock response of policy advisors and government agencies to food insecurity is to encourage food-exporting developed countries to step up emergency food aid, while simultaneously reducing national trade barriers and domestic support for farmers to cut consumer prices.

    The World Food Summit (WFS) held in Rome in 1996 responded to the policy of international harmonization of food policies by declaring that the premise and priority of every political leader should be to ensure that in the least developed or donor-dependent countries, production should meet at least the requirements for food security.

    At least to the extent that if more aid is needed, it should be delivered to productive agriculture, thereby promoting rural development and reducing migration pressure on their countries. The goal was to obtain economic self-sufficiency in food production without becoming a matter of top priority for the least developed and most undernourished countries.

    It is within this context that the Nigerian Government is committed to increasing income for small farmers in the country by encouraging biotechnological advances that will further improve productivity and cut costs.

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    Nigeria, like most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, can ill afford to ignore the potential benefits associated with adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops.

    However, policymakers need to be guided by empirical evidence to inform the complex decision on the appropriateness and relevance of GM crops.

    Rather than debate on irrelevant issues on safety of GM foods or crops, emphasis should rather focus on what are the institutional, technical, and socio-economic forces that either push Nigeria towards or against adoption of genetic modification in agriculture. This is important as the potential payoffs can only be realized if the country has the appropriate systems in place to harness the potential benefits and manage any potential risks associated with modern biotechnologies.

    Therefore, the results from Nigeria can have substantial implications in other countries in the region with similar structures and institutional arrangements.

    Nigeria started trials on GM crops over a decade and half leading to the approval of almost four crops with three already commercialized. Crops such as cowpea, sorghum, maize, and rice with pest and disease resistance, tolerance to harsh environmental conditions, and low input requirements have been developed and tested.

    These crops are engineered via insertion of additional genes or replacement of the original gene varieties using Agrobacterium-mediated technologies, and these have shown promising results.

    There is evident widespread acceptance of the world’s population increase, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. The most critical issues of concern for many growing economies, like Nigeria, are food, energy, and water. Effective plant breeding for crops can have beneficial outcomes for these concerns.

    The success of genetic modification techniques in this field has been tried and recognized in many parts of the world. Today, crop plants like maize, cotton, soybeans, papaya, alfalfa, and canola have been genetically engineered.

    A nascent sector of biotechnology, genetic modification, is the new development that is dramatically beginning to change related disciplines like agriculture, animal husbandry, and forestry.

    Some agriculturally important organisms have been successfully modified with genetic engineering techniques. Such manipulation has significantly improved the plant’s value in a way that cannot be achieved using conventional breeding available to man for centuries.

    Genetically modified (GM) crops are crops in which genetics have been modified using genetic engineering techniques like DNA transfer and more recently, gene editing, to produce plants with improved and new desirable traits.

    Small-scale and resource-poor farmers in developing countries are limited by traditional crop improvement techniques. They are not able to exploit their full potential productivity due to a lack of tools that focus on addressing their needs.

    Conversely, biotechnology has the potential to bridge the technological gap between the developed and developing worlds. These communities need to produce a significant surplus in agricultural products in order to ascend the value chain, with the objective of driving economic growth by enhancing net profit, reducing poverty, and ensuring that the products of agriculture are translated into greater social benefits.

    Genetically modified drought-tolerant crops are potentially a viable technology to help these communities adapt to harsh environmental conditions due to projected global warming and the upcoming water crisis.

    Extended life expectancy for the global population over the past century has resulted in drastic dietary changes, which have in turn significantly affected human health. Indigenous domesticated varieties are being continuously lost due to socio-economic, technical, and climatic factors. Against this background, biotechnology offers a wide array of tools that can be used to enhance the capabilities of arts, culture, health, medical, and pharmaceutical practice. Products of these disciplines help meet the growing demand in the areas of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining, medicine, animal health, and the environment.

    Biotechnology has revolutionized the traditional agriculture-based economy in many ways by shifting from conventional to transgenic or genetically modified crop varieties. Currently, the most common commercialized transgenic crops are herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant crops.

  • Stakeholders raise alarm over dangers of GMOs crops

    Stakeholders raise alarm over dangers of GMOs crops

    The Center for Food Safety and Agricultural Research (CEFSAR) emphasised the urgent need for organic farming practices to ensure food security, environmental sustainability and human health in a symposium held to discuss the viability of genetically modified crops in Nigeria.  

    Tagged: “GMO FOODS: Unveiling the Landscapes and Debates beyond the Laboratory” the symposium gathered diverse stakeholders to engage in constructive discussions the challenges and opportunities associated with GMO technology, whilst advocating for a transition towards organic farming practices.

    Key highlights included expert panel discussions led by professionals in agriculture, academia, public health, media, IT, law, and research. Panelists shared insights, research findings, and experiences, providing a comprehensive overview of the GMO landscape and the principles of organic farming. Participants engaged in thoughtful discussions on the ethical and societal implications of GMO technology, considering factors such as food security, health, environmental sustainability, and socioeconomic impacts. The symposium challenged misconceptions about GMO adoption leading to higher yields, emphasizing the need for evidence-based assessments of GMO technology’s impact on agricultural productivity, soil health, and food security. Speakers stressed the importance of responsible stewardship and sustainable agricultural practices.

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    Mr Segun Adebayo, an IT Expert and researcher advocated for the balance of knowlege, stating that everyone deserves to know what they are eating. He highlight the cultural and biological from a research paper, the of impact Atrazine, an active ingredient in pesticides used for Genetically Modified Crops stating they were testerone suppressants, and they contributed significantly to making men sterile and effeminate, which is a precursor to many in the west who claim they were born homosexuals, that infact, it is as a result of eating Genetically Modified Foods. He read from a research done over 20 years ago, where Atrazine was called a chemical castrator. 

    Oluwaseyi Ifelaja explained that GMO crops are agent of colonialization tied to Agric led growth and food security. He stated that Nigeria and several other African Countries have criminalized the saving, sharing and marketing of seeds among neighbours, or selling seeds at local market or within farmers. 

    “You cannot share your seeds or replant them. According to the law, it has been criminalized, and the purpose of that law is to level the playing ground for the economics of Genetically Modified seeds. The architect of the seed economy which includes major seed and biotech firms largely from the global North; i.e. the west. They have companies and NGOs that are sponsored by their governments, which are used to spread their tentacles into the global south and achieve their neocolonialist globalization agenda.”

    He closed his presentation by stating that the seed is the beginning of the food system. The minute you lose control of your seeds, you’ve lost control to whoever provided you those seeds.

    Dr. Phillip Njemanze expressed that, “It’s crucial to expose instances of scientific falsification, such as the misleading claims about Yellow Cassava and Golden Rice. These fabrications only add to the urgency of addressing the GMO issue. Narrating the situation in Nigeria, I can’t ignore the alleged manipulation by external forces. The claim that the Boko Haram crisis in the Northeast is linked to introducing GMOs is both shocking and distressing. Personally witnessing the introduction of the electronic wallet system for farmers, I’m troubled by the potential misuse of data, especially in targeting seed growers. This unethical practice demands our attention.

    Restating the need to revisit the seed law in Nigeria, a legal practitioner, Mr Bismarck Akintoye, urged the legislature to undo the laws signed in ignorance, “There are laws that allowed biotechnology into the country while we were sleeping. We must engage the lawmakers to  undo the laws they did as regards the acceptance of GMO foods and crops in the country.”

    Hon Bridget Obi centered on farmers development expressing that, “Farmers may not wear suits, but the fulfillment of providing food for households is unmatched. Going into the farm, dressing up, and having a perfume may seem odd, but the satisfaction of having abundant food is incomparable. 

    “Today, I focus on solutions for Nigerian farmers, particularly in preserving harvests. While farming has thrived in villages like those near the Niger and Benue rivers, preservation remains a challenge. Reflecting on the 2020 Agric and Food Security assembly in 2008, I highlight the importance of a long-term plan for agriculture. Unfortunately, political changes often disrupt these plans, hindering Nigeria’s progress.”