Dr Lungu advises against changing policy on GMOs
Written by Chiwoyu Sinyangwe and Ernest Chanda
Friday, February 13, 2009 7:54:33 AM
AGRICULTURAL scientist Dr Judith Lungu has advised against changing government policy regarding genetically modified organisms (GMO) because evidence has shown that they have an effect on the environment.
And agriculture minister Dr Brian Chituwo on Wednesday told Parliament that the government has no intention of blacklisting GIA International, the company that imported some genetically modified maize out of the 35,000 metric tonnes from South Africa.
Dr Lungu, who is University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Agriculture dean, said re-opening debate on whether Zambia should start consuming GMOs or not should not lead to a policy shift concerning the country's stance on the matter.
"There is need to research on the consumption of GMO maize in the country without politicising it," she advised.
Dr Lungu said the current knowledge on GMOs was not adequate to enable Zambia make a correct decision.
"There is a lot of evidence that GMOs have an effect on the environment. And those who are against GMOs are standing up for the fact that if you bring the seed, it will mix with the local seed and it will contaminate whatever we have as local seed," Dr Lungu said.
She advised that the consumption of GMOs had advantages and disadvantages, which needed to be verified through scientific research and not political statements.
"However, the country at the moment does not have the capacity to undertake trials on advantages and disadvantages of consuming GMO maize to enable the country come up with an informed policy decision," she said. "Until we have more information and we are sure that what we are taking is safe, then we will accept."
She further defended the biotechnology and bio-safety policy, which was implemented by the government in 2002 as a guiding principle to the country's position on GMO maize.
Asked on the timing of the pronouncements by President Rupiah Banda that the country should open debate on GMOs following the rejection of 35,000 metric tonnes of imported maize by FRA, Dr Lungu emphasised the need for more research on the matter, although she noted that the country currently did not have proper equipment and capacity to adequately handle trials on the possible side effects of GMOs.
"We don't have the capacity in terms of human resource and equipment because you have to be at a certain level of laboratory, from the policy you can tell that whatever research you are going to do from GMO must not come out of the air to go anywhere else and if you are doing with crops, the birds and the insect will come and get the pollen and take it elsewhere, so you must have the facility that will prevent that," Dr Lungu said. "There is need for facilitating this research, building capacity in terms of human resource and getting involved in this research, without that, we will just do politics as we have done before."
Dr Lungu also explained that a team previously appointed to ascertain the safety of GMO foods concentrated on getting results from other countries and not coming up with a local policy.
"We have our own scientists at Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), UNZA and National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR), they can do that kind of research if they are capacitated, so in opening up this dialogue, it means also capacitating these institutions that can provide this information," said Dr Lungu. "This information in other countries is coming from the research institutions, but if we are going to sit back and wait for information to come through the politics, it won't happen."
President Banda this week said there was need to reopen debate on GMOs following the importation of maize into the country that was rejected by FRA.
About 81 per cent of the 35,000 metric tonnes of maize imported from South Africa was genetically modified against the country's policy on GMOs.
And in his ministerial statement in Parliament, Dr Chituwo said some people were exaggerating the shortage of maize in the country.
Dr Chituwo's statement came after a question by Nkana member of parliament Mwenya Musenge who wanted to know if the government would consider terminating a contract with GIA International, especially that the same government had in the past blacklisted some Zambian companies for poor services.
"The contract with GIA International is still running, the law is still in place, and the system is there to ensure the safety of Zambians. We cannot blacklist a company that has a running contract with this government," Dr Chituwo said.
When asked by Zambezi West member of parliament Charles Kakoma whether one of the companies importing maize was for President Rupiah Banda's son, James, Dr Chituwo dismissed the allegation as an invention.
"I don't remember hearing or reading that the FRA chairman said that James Banda was awarded this contract. As a matter of fact, we do not scrutinise who owns which company, but those are mere allegations and I want the MP to prove that. Those are insinuations and I am not aware as Minister of Agriculture. However, anybody is free to participate in the development of our country although transparently," said Dr Chituwo.
Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, GIA INTERNATIONAL, GMO, JUDITH LUNGU, MAIZE
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Experts urge caution over maize imports
Written by Joan Chirwa
Tuesday, December 09, 2008 12:15:21 AM
ACTION taken now on the maize issue can either make Zambia a net exporter or a perpetual importer of the commodity, key industry analysts have observed.
And University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Agriculture dean Dr Judith Lungu has
questioned the credibility of this year’s crop forecast of 1.2 million metric tonnes of maize from the 2007/2008 farming season.
The experts have warned that the current maize situation may lead to another “Carlington maize scandal” since those contracted to import maize have not yet been disclosed.
The government has allowed the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to import 100,000 metric tonnes of white non-GMO maize from within the region to replenish national reserves since the FRA is currently offloading 20,000 metric tonnes onto the market for the millers.
Imports of the 100,000 metric tonnes of maize will result in an extra expenditure of around US $40 million (about K189 billion, calculated at the current average exchange rate of K4,750 per US dollar) on the part of the government since the landed cost of a tonne of the commodity would be in the region of US $400.
But experts who declined to be named said Zambia cannot be said to be food secure when it was tapping into national strategic reserves at great replacement cost to the Treasury.
“We are planning on expending at least US $400 per metric tonne on importing maize which might not even be non-GMO. The mandate of the importation contract of at least US $40 million is clearly beyond FRA and they have to go to the Zambia National Tender Board (ZNTB). This amount is a lot of money which the Treasury had not planned on spending,” said the experts. “In such scenarios, Dr [Situmbeko] Musokotwane (Minister of Finance) might be forced to cut other budgets.
This is not good for any economy since for the savings from cutting expenditure to be meaningful, they have to target capital projects. This might mean that a school or hospital somewhere might not be completed on time or a road in some district might not be worked on as promised. In other words, the country walks two or more steps backwards for every step taken forward this year. If indeed we have to spend this money perhaps a good portion of it should be spent here.”
They further asked the government to clearly indicate the actual stocks of maize available in the country.
“We are told FRA has around 116,000 tonnes, millers and traders about 200,000 tonnes bringing the total to 316,000 tonnes. This should be enough stocks to last us until the next harvest season,” said the experts. “It is understood that FRA needs to import maize to replenish their stocks but why should they do this at a higher price and sell at a lower price?
An honest miller will confess that his extraction ratio from a tonne of maize is around 50-35-13 to produce breakfast, roller and maize bran. The rest is wastage. Therefore, the subsidy on the raw material – maize – only goes to subsidise consumption by the rich. We do not expect the vulnerable to buy breakfast mealie-meal.”
Agriculture minister Dr Brian Chituwo has disclosed that the FRA was holding 150, 000 metric tonnes which was the minimum requirement for the country’s food reserve.
Food commodities contribute more than half the inflation figure which in turn affects the cost of borrowing. Already, the country’s inflation (15.3 per cent in November) has taken an upward trend, and mostly contributing to this has been the cost of mealie-meal – a by-product of maize.
And agricultural expert Gerrit Struyf has advised millers to become more innovative and use other crops such as cassava to replace maize in production of stock feed.
“Tiger Animal Feeds is now buying cassava chips for use in poultry feeds for K45,000 per 50 kilogramme bag,” said Struyf. “Cassava is a crop which can be produced cheaply by many Zambian farmers; this is another manner to reduce maize imports in the country.”
And Dr Lungu said it was unclear whether the figures released about this year’s maize production were correct considering that the country now requires imports to replenish stocks.
“We were told officially that we had adequate grain for Zambia. What has happened? Last season was not a very good season because of floods in some parts and drought in other parts of the country. I found it strange at that time that we had adequate grain from our harvest. Was this a true assessment?” Dr Lungu asked. “If we produced a lot of maize, where did it go? Where did maize from far-off provinces, provinces far from the line of rail such as Eastern Province, go? We have open boarders and any business person will go where the price is right. Marketing is an issue in these areas and we will continue to spend money on importing if we do not deal effectively with this. What is the quality of maize at FRA? If we had adequate maize stored and it is of good quality, then we should not have had any problems.”
Dr Lungu noted the need for increasing the country’s production levels.
“The country has the capacity to produce enough grain. We need to increase agriculture productivity and production. Harvest of grain especially maize per unit of land has been going down over the years,” said Dr Lungu. “Even if there are subsidies, many of the really poor do not access this fertiliser. Even for the seemingly well-o-do, fertiliser prices are abominably high.
They have to think twice before deciding on whether it is worth growing a crop like maize which requires high inputs considering the high prices of both fertilisers and seed. Some used hybrid seed at some time and continue to recycle it by replanting the grain produced.
It is not hybrid seed any more. It cannot yield much. I think maize production will be low again next year because many have difficulty getting inputs that they can afford for their crop. By December 15, it will be too late to be planting maize.”
Labels: CARLINGTON MAIZE DEAL, FOOD, FRA, JUDITH LUNGU, MAIZE
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