AgroPages-Kenyans call for lifting of GMO ban-Agricultural news

With a virus threatening the crops of up to 70 percent of Kenya's maize farmers, a number of lawmakers are calling for the country’s controversial ban on GMOs - genetically modified organisms - to be lifted for the sake of food security. Agricultural researcher Simon Gichuki explains that for many Kenyans, maize is an irreplaceable part of their diet.

This is why the past several years have been so alarming for Kenyans. The country’s cereal-growing heartlands have been ravaged by a virus called Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease. The Cereal Growers Association has said the disease could cut production this year by almost a third, with up to 70 percent of maize farmers affected.

According to Kipkorir Menjo, head of the Kenya Farmers Association, the virus could be a threat to food security.

In Kenya, more and more policymakers are starting to think that the solution to diseases like this is genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

GMOs have been banned in Kenya since 2012, when a study found that GMO maize caused cancer in rats. The study was later discredited, and pulled from the scientific journal that had published it. But in Kenya GMOs are still illegal.

Gichuki, who runs the biotechnology unit at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, says Kenyan scientists are already talking to foreign universities to start work on a Lethal Necrosis Disease-resistant maize. Several other types of GMO maize have been harvested already, including one crop in October.

Menjo says that among farmers themselves, opinions on GMOs are mixed. But a number of lawmakers have been speaking out in favor of lifting the ban.

GMOs are still controversial in Kenya, and although Menjo supports legalizing them, he says many people are concerned about their potential side effects.

But Gichuki is convinced it will not be long before he and his team of scientists will be able to distribute their newly-created GMO seeds to farmers.

Kenya’s GMO ban can only be lifted by the Cabinet, which has yet to make a decision.