(ZIMPAPERS) GMOs have found their way on shelves of local supermarkets

COMMENT - GMOs are not the answer, they are the problem. They are a clear and present danger to the health of people. They induce sterility in lab tests of hamsters, and they are a pandora's box of unknown and unknowable side effects, both to human health and nature. AND WE DO NOT NEED THEM. The farmer in question who is describes as 'a distressed farmer', probably only needs a few rainwater harvesting ditches, so he can store more water for his crops to grow. Access to water is the main hindrance to agriculture in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa today, not absence of genetically engineered crops. Expect more pro-GMO articles like this to appear, because MONSANTO's reach is far and wide, and facilitated by the US government and US embassies, as evidenced from Wikileaks (see here).

GMOs have found their way on shelves of local supermarkets but local farmers are not allowed to grow them.
Saturday, 08 October 2011 23:16
By Faith Mhandu

Mr Muchabaiwa Tagarika (72) from Mwenezi District in Masvingo Province is a distressed farmer. Despite employing double efforts on his land each year, he has failed to attain a meaningful harvest.

Mr Tagarika’s nightmares are a combination of incessant droughts and poor soil ph caused by land over-use. The farmer has a passion for agriculture, the main food source for his family.

Being a family man, Mr Tagarika is conscious of the need to devise other means to improve the output on his land or join the list of several Zimbabweans in dire need of food aid this year.

Despite farmers working flat-out on their pieces of land to produce food for the country, Zimbabwe’s agricultural output has for the past decade dwindled because of harsh weather conditions.

The situation has seen lobby groups engaging in a robust debate on the adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as a way to guarantee the country’s food security.

According to the 2011 Consolidated Appeal Process, more than 1,4 million Zimbabweans urgently needed food assistance since February this year.

The crisis was a result of a poor 2010-2011 agricultural season which was struck by a deadly mid-season drought between January and February.

The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) acting director, Mr Peter Gambara, said it was time for the country to start considering GMOs.

He said the shortage of food is not peculiar to Zimbabwe but is a global crisis.

“With the current food shortages not only in Zimbabwe, but across the globe, the Government should start to reconsider allowing GMO grains in the country,” said Mr Gambara.

He said despite the ban of grains by the Government, processed GMO products were being imported and dominated the market because of their affordable prices.

“Ban or no ban, GMOs are there in the country and are on the market, putting the local farmers at a disadvantage. The agronomic cost of production in our country is very high while on the market we are expected to sell at the same price,” Mr Gambara said.

There have been concerns from various stakeholders that GMO foods had long-term health effects.

But Mr Gambara said no scientific evidence had proved the harmful nature of GMOs, adding that locals were currently consuming GM foods in imported products like chicken, rice and cooking oil. Zimbabwe imports most of its food products from South Africa.

According to the United States National Academies of Sciences 2004 report, no adverse health effects attributed to genetic engineering have been detected.

A 2005 review in Archives of Animal Nutrition concluded that first-generation of genetically modified foods had been found to be similar in nutrition and safety as the non-GM foods.

“It was noted that second-generation foods with significant changes in constituents would be more difficult to test, and would require further animal studies,” stated the review.

A Biosafety Board member and National University of Science and Technology scientific researcher Professor Yogeshkumar Naik in 2006 said Zimbabwe had no need to fear GMO as according to his research they did not pose a health hazard.

However, 2009 Nutrition Reviews found that although most studies concluded that there was a small percentage of cellular-level changes detected in some specimens as a result of modified foods.

This, researchers said, gave more need for further investigation on the use and consumption of GM foods.

Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union director Mr Paul Zakariya said there was a need for public education before the country subscribes to the adoption of GMOs.

“We noted that most farmers do not know what GMOs were. A survey on our members showed us that most of them were misinformed. To be precise, the farmers do not have a clue on what GMO are,” said Mr Zakariya.

“We are concerned on who is going to help us in disseminating the information. Let us talk about this subject so that experts will not be the only ones with the knowledge.”

Government, however, has maintained a ban on the importation of GM seed maize and grain, citing environmental and health concerns.

Ironically, there are no restrictions on the importation of GM mealie-meal.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made warns that GMOs had long-term negative effects on agricultural yields.

Advocates of genetically modified crops, however, say that resistance on the scientific products needs to change since traditional methods had failed to withstand
the weather patterns.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries has also expressed concern over the continued ban of GMO raw materials in food manufacturing despite the country being among the top four countries in Africa to embark on research into GMOs.

-The Sunday Mail