GM foods hold potential for nation

Ghana holds untapped potential in the consumption of Genetically Modified (GM) products as it awaits parliamentary approval for the deployment and the full commercialisation of the products, said Gary Blumenthal, a U.S Biotechnology Expert and CEO of World Perspective Incorporated.

“Ghana has capable scientists who could work on the application of the GM technology if the bill is passed and dispels the fears of sceptics who held the view that GM products are unsafe so they reconsider their position.”

Biotechnology is a technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, to make or modify products which when embraced would effectively solve food insecurity and ameliorate the likely impact of climate-change on farming and improving agricultural produce in the country, Mr. Blumenthal stated at a media roundtable discussion on biotechnology and other related issues hosted by the US Embassy in Accra.

Cabinet has approved the Bio-safety bill which will allow the full commercialisation of biotechnology and the deployment of Genetically Modified (GM) products in the country.

Promulgation of the bill into law will enable the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and the Immigration Service to monitor, regulate and control genetically modified food products imported into the country.

In May 2008, Parliament passed a legislative instrument that permitted closed field-trails and tests of biotech products, but not their commercial production.

This entails confined field trials using biotechnology cowpea, sweet potato and nitrogen use efficient rice. These field-trials would be conducted in Savanna Research Institute, Crop Research Institute and Biotechnology and Nuclear Agricultural Research Institute at the University of Ghana.

Dr. Alhassan Yakubu, Member of the Parliamentary, Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology told B&FT that the draft bill when passed will authorise the use and consumption of GM foods in the country’s consuming market - adding that the passage will have enormous implications for the country’s future biotech crop production in the agricultural sector.

This will be the second GM foods-related bill that Parliament will pass after it earlier passed the Legislative Instrument on Bio-safety (LI 1887), which along with other existing legislation could be used to start field-trials of GM crops in the country’s agricultural sector.

The use of biotechnology has been the subject of an ongoing and healthy public debate in the country and many other countries. Some have argued that biotechnology and advanced science may help in dealing effectively with issues of food security and the likely impact on farming from climate change.

Professor Walter Sandow Alhassan, Coordinator, African Biosafety & Biotechhnology Policy Platform, mentioned that though Parliament was yet to pass the bill, Ghanaian farmer-based organisations have been using GM technology to enable them improve their production in order not to be outdone by their Togolese, Nigerian and Burkinabe counterparts who would flood the local markets with such products.

He called on government to speed up passage of the bill to allow Ghanaian farmers to use the GM technology and enhance production, which would ensure food security and contribute immensely towards attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

“Several other crops currently under development may be relevant for Ghanaian farmers; including insect-resistant cowpea, insect-resistant cotton, nitrogen-use efficient rice, and drought tolerant maize,” Prof Alhassan revealed.

GM crop production globally is reported to have reduced the need for external inputs, thus saving 356,000 mt of pesticides from 1996 to 2008. Its contribution to climatic change is estimated as equivalent to removing seven million cars off the road.

It expected that hectares under cultivation will double by the second decade of commercialisation in 2015.

Future prospects of a new wave of biotechnology crops between 2010 and 2015 are encouraging, therefore top priority must be assigned to the operation of appropriate responsible, cost-effective and timely regulatory systems.

In the 1990's, scientists from the United States Food and Drug Administration warned about health problems associated with GM foods.