Uganda close to passing GMO law

The long awaited National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill 2012 is to be passed by legislators before the 9th Parliament is dissolved Vice President Edward Ssekandi has assured scientists. 

 

“Parliament has been reluctant to pass the Bill because of some incumbencies associated with biotechnology, Cabinet and other stakeholders, are aware that the application of biotechnology will lift up Uganda’s agriculture sector. Scientists, both from Uganda and globally, rest assured that the Bill which seeks to regulate your efforts will be passed very soon,” Ssekandi said last week.

 

His speech was read on his behalf by Mathias Kasamba, the Chairperson of the parliamentary committee on agricultural, animal industry and fisheries.  This was during the Second Biennial National Agricultural Biosciences Conference which was held in Uganda recently.Ssekandi said Uganda needs technology which can transform the sector that has been affected by the impacts of climate change and several crop diseases.

 

The Vice President said the peasantry kind of technologies now being applied cannot manage prolonged drought, outbreaks of crop and livestock diseases.

 

The Bill was first tabled in 2013 however sharp divisions quickly emerged concerning the merits of Genetically Modified Organism technology (GMOs).

 

Arthur Makara, the Executive Officer at Science for Development Local NGO fostering for science development in Uganda and lead organizer of the conference in partnership with the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) told participants many scientists failed to package the information relating to biotechnology in simple way. 

 

 “African  countries  continue  to sit  around  the  fence, with  difficulty  in deciding  whether to  embrace  the technology  or not. In most cases, the confusion and crossroad condition has been attributed to the limited knowledge, misinformation and lack of political will  to make  the final decision,” he said.

 

One scientist told East African Business Week, “Some of our trading partner states in Africa, such as South Africa and Sudan are already growing genetically modified cotton.  Others like Egypt are growing maize.   This has boosted their production thus improving their country’s earnings from the sector.  But in Uganda our total agricultural exports volumes are declining due to factors associated with climatic change.  With the application of biotechnology, Uganda can increase on her production capacity.” 

 

However in the interlude, Ugandan researchers have developed new varieties of seeds using GM technology, but this has been confined to various research stations.

 

These include maize varieties resistant to drought or insects and rice which absorbs nitrogen more efficiently.

 

It’s estimated that up to 30% yield loss in maize is attributed to stem bores and drought which has led government to lose about $19.4 million and on the side of Banana the average loss stand at 71.4% and in monetary value the government is losing about $299.6 million due to Banana Bacterial Wilt Disease.

 

The out brake of crop  diseases has compelled Scientist’s  to engage more in research which has resulted into the developing of  varieties of crops  using Biotechnology which they believe are resistant droughts and diseases  but the general public has not received the good news from scientists positively.   

 

Negative perception by Parliamentarians and members of the civil societies towards Biotechnology is attributed to poor communication between Scientist’s and the general public. Arthur Makara the Executive Officer at Science for Development Local NGO fostering for Science development in Uganda who were the lead organizer of the conference in partnership with NARO told Participants during the forum that Scientist failed to package the information relating to Biotechnology in simple way.