By JIMOH BABATUNDE
The President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria
(AFAN), Arc. Kabiru Salman did not mince words when
he told the gathering at the national Assembly last week
that Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) will take his
members away from subsistence farming to commercial
farming.
This position was echoed by the representative of the
Cotton Association of Nigeria, who said they will become
rich like farmers in other West Africa countries and
developed countries that have taken to the cultivation of
BT cotton.
They made these revelations as they joined other
stakeholders at the National Assembly last week at the
Public hearing on a bill for an act to establish the
National Biosafety law for the country.
Nigeria signed and ratified an internationally binding
Biosafety Protocol Known as Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety in 2000 and 2002 respectively.
The Protocol entered into came into force on the 11th
September 2003 and currently has 160 members. The
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety addresses the safe
transfer, handling and use of Living Modified Organisms
(LMOs) that may have adverse effects on conservation
and sustainable utilization of biodiversity, taking into
account risk to human health.
As a signatory, Nigeria made efforts at domesticating the
Cartagena protocol with the National Biosafety
Management Agency Bill 2011 which was initially passed
by the 6th National Assembly but was not assented to by
the President because it was passed a day before the end
of the life of that Assembly.
The bill was returned under this 7th National Assembly,
so it was not surprising that supporters of the bill were at
the national assembly last week for the public hearing.
Declaring the hearing open, the Senate President, David
Mark, said the issue of biotechnology is an international
one and Nigeria is a signatory to the Cartagena Protocol
on Biosafety.
“But we must domesticate the issues involved so as to
benefit from modern technology. “
The Senate President represented by Senator Atiku
Bagudu, said global population is growing geometrically
and to feed the world there is need for technology,
saying “this bill is going to provide guidance in the areas
of agriculture, stable environment and wealth creation.”
The Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator
Emmanuel Bwacha, said the National Biosafety Bill is to
provide a regulatory regime and guidance for the
sustainable development of the science of modern
biotechnology.
While promising to see to the bill being passed by the
present assembly, he said they are neutral as the will of
the people will be taken into consideration.
He said Nigeria signed the protocol on Biodiversity to
enjoy the benefits associated with modern technology.
It is those benefits that the agriculture sector stands to
gain that Arc. Kabiru Salman said they will be deprived of
if there is no law regulating biotechnology in the country.
“As farmers, we embrace biotechnology and the passage
of the bill will make whatever we do legitimate. GMO will
lead to high yields and safety of what we do.”
He added that law on biosafety will take them away from
subsistence farming to commercial farming and “this will
make us food secured and good player internationally
Salman said “farmers might result to smuggling of GMO
seeds they considered will enhance their earning without
risk assessment being carried out on them if the bill is
not passed.”
While urging that the bill should be passed into law, he
said the country might not be able to guarantee the
purity of its agricultural products for the international
market, there by loosing her international partners and
also foreign earnings.
The representative of the Cotton Farmers Association,
Samuel Ishaku, who also urged the National Assembly to
pass the bil, saying having a law in place for the
regulation of their activities will enable his members
make more money from cultivating cotton.
Tracing the decline in production of cotton in the
country, he noted that many countries have been
cultivating genetically modified cotton commercially, but
since Nigeria has no law in place, “cotton farmers can not
cultivate BT cotton which has led to the downfall in
cotton production in the country.”
He revealed that Burkina Faso farmers and India farmers
have benefited more from cultivating BT cotton that they
now cultivate twice in a year and making good money.
Dr. Chiedozie Egezi of the National Root Crops Research
Institute, Umudike, speaking with this reporter said a
biosafety law will enable trials for prospective and
promising products.
Dr. Egezi, who is also the In-country Principal
Investigator, BioCassava Plus, added that Biosafety law
will provide capacity building of local expertise in Ag-
Biotech that would engender ownership of technology
and thereby build trust.
He said the law will provide strong outreach linkages and
networking to rural areas and stakeholders especially
local farmers; infrastructure for testing GM plants with
appropriate biosafety measures in different ecologies.
The Coordinator Nigeria Chapter, Open Forum on
Agricultural Biotechnology, Mrs. Rose Gidado disclosed
that the issue of Biosafety Regulation in Africa is rapidly
gaining momentum as more African Countries are
embracing GMOs.
She revealed that Republic of South Africa, Burkina Faso
and Egypt already have biosafety laws and are currently
growing and consuming GM crops. Kenya, Togo, Tanzania
and Mali also have Biosafety laws.
“The African Union has developed a model biosafety law
to assist Member States develop their biosafety laws.
However, to further strengthen Biosafety system in
Africa, the NEPAD-African Biosafety Network of Expertise
project has been put in place to develop the capacity of
member states in biotechnology and Biosafety.
“The ECOWAS Commission is also, currently developing a
common Biosafety Regulation in line with National
Biosafety laws/Regulations for the Sub-region.”

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