maize farm |
She laughs off
suggestions by GMO proponents that the recent attack by the army worm
has softened the resolve to oppose the introduction of a pro-GMO law in
Uganda.
"If they think they
will have it easy when they introduce the Bill again they are joking.
We are even more organised than before," Ntambirweki says as she sifts
through her battery of petitions and other documents she has been
writing to parliament on the issue.
She is referring to
the National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill 2012 which was in 2013
presented to Parliament amidst opposition mainly from Civil Society
Organisations (CSOs). Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga sent the Bill
to the Parliamentary committee on Science and Technology for scrutiny
but, in March, President Yoweri Museveni told Parliament to quickly pass
the Bill 'to help the country resolve some of the problems the
agriculture sector is facing."
It was the first
time the President, who was at his demonstration farm at Kawumu State
Lodge in Luweero District, was giving his opinion on the controversial
issue, and appears to be the official line now.
But Ntambirweki and
her camp say the Bill is bad because it seeks to smuggle GMOs into the
country without safeguards and that the government and its agencies are
using the threat of hunger to convince the country that GMOs are the
magic bullet for solving all the country's agricultural challenges -
which, according to her, is a lie.
The anti-GMO lobby
cites the example of Africa's top cotton producing country; Burkina
Faso, where GMO cotton was introduced but later abandoned after Monsanto
supplied cotton damaged the quality. The fiber length, one of the chief
measures of quality, was reduced, causing Burkina Faso's cotton to
fetch lower prices on the world market.
Ntambirweki's
opponents, the proponents of GMOs, however, appear equally determined to
ride on the recent attack on the maize crop by the fall army worm to
introduce GMO maize. According to this group, GMO maize will not be
susceptible to attack from the fall army worm or any other pests and
diseases.
Leading the pro-GMO
army of scientists is Dr. Ambrose Agona, the director general of the
National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO).
Money, politics behind the National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill 2012
Unknown to most
Ugandans, NARO currently runs one of the most active GMO research
facilities on the African continent. According to the South African
based African Center for Biodiversity (ACB), Uganda has the largest
number of GMO crops under testing by NARO. These include maize, bananas,
cassava, potato, rice and sweet potatoes. And Dr. Agona admits doing
the research even if the activity is illegal under current laws.
At the peak of the
fall army worm invasion in March, Agona told journalists that NARO has
developed several GMO crop varieties that can withstand drought, pests
and diseases but the law does not allow NARO to release them.
"If the
biotechnology law was in place we would be able to release this maize
variety which is resistant to the armyworm," he said.
The coordinator at
National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCCRI), Barbara Zawedde
backs Agona's position. She says farmers continue to suffer economic
losses yet researchers are developing varieties resistant to drought,
pest and diseases and shelving them because there is no law. NaCCRI is
one of NARO's research institutes located at Namulonge. She says the
scientists have developed solutions to banana bacterial wilt, viruses in
cassava, and drought resistant maize and rice.
"Bacterial wilt is causing Uganda an annual loss of over Shs600 million," Zawedde says.
The Executive
Secretary of the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFF), Augustine
Mwendya, also says he backs the passing of the Bill. UNFF is an umbrella
body for all farmers' associations in the country.
Even politicians
like Kabweri County Member of Parliament, Francis Gonahasa, say people
like Ntambirweki who are fighting GMOs are simply ignorant. Gonahasa who
has a university degree in agriculture says even though he belongs to
the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, he is with the
government when it comes to GMOs helping increase food security and
productivity.
"Some of those
opposing the Bill don't know that the broiler chickens they buy from the
markets are a product of GMOs," Gonahasa said. Even some of the
imported food products on shop shelves contain GMO ingredients and are
ironically consumed by the same opponents of GMOs.
Revelations by
Zawede, Agona, and Gonahasa appear to have pierced a painful spot among
the anti-GMO camp. ACB estimates that 80 percent of food in Africa is
produced by small-scale farmers who cannot afford the expensive GMO
seeds.
"Genetic technology
is extremely expensive. A farmer needs at least 500 hectares (1200
acres) before it pays its way. Most small scale farmers own much smaller
plots of land," ACB says.
According to ACB,
in South Africa, farmers have to pay twice, sometimes five times as much
for genetically modified maize than for the conventional variety. They
cannot even extract seeds for replanting from their own crop and have to
buy a new batch every year.
An official of a
group against introduction of GMOs in Nigeria 'Friends of the Earth
Nigeria' said African governments had learnt nothing from the Burkina
Faso fiasco.
Now Ntambirweki is accusing Ugandan scientists of being in the pay of American GMO merchants.
On Monsanto payroll
NARO is allegedly
carrying out its GMO research under a project called Water Efficient
Maize for Africa (WEMA) using money provided by American pro-GMO
organisations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
Monsanto, which is a big U.S. multinational which produces 90% of GMOs
in the world, according to Greenpeace, a global organisation which
fights environmental degradation.
Monsanto also sells
fertiliser, pesticides, and weed killer - such as glyphosate - to
buyers of its genetically modified seed. In Uganda the weed killer is
traded as Round Up. However, Roundup and other glyphosate brands have
been banned in some countries for allegedly having disastrous effects on
biodiversity.
According to South
African based African Center for Biodiversity, a nonprofit organisation
against genetic engineering and biopiracy, Bill Gates and his wife; who
are the richest couple on earth, pump large sums of money into
agricultural projects they support, including those involving GMOs.
Ntambirweki says
some Ugandan scientists, politicians and journalists have received money
from the pro-GMO groups and multinationals and been sponsored on
foreign trips to countries like Brazil which have embraced GMOs.
"The idea is for
them to come back here and promote them," says Ntambirweki. She says the
first ever biotechnology and biosafety journalism awards ceremony in
Uganda held by the Uganda Biosciences Information Centre (UBIC) in May
was sponsored by WEMA using pro-GMO money.
Ntambirweki has
some big guns in her camp; including the Executive Director of The
Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID), Rev
Prof. Florence Muranga. The PIBID boss says the government should not
introduce GMO bananas because they are a threat to indigenous varieties
and would affect the export of the crop.
"We have received
orders to export banana products to both North and South America but the
first condition is that they should not be GMOs," Muranga is quoted to
have said in May at the closure of training on banana production,
marketing and value addition in Bushenyi District.
Even some NGOs
working with farmers and individuals have joined the fight. Among them
is Patrick Iga who was voted the best farmer in Uganda in 2014 in a
competition organised by the New Vision Publications, KLM Airlines, and
the Dutch Embassy and is the CEO of Farming Consultancy and Management
(FACOM).
Iga says GMOs are one of two ways in which developed nations want to control the developing countries; the other is militarily.
"These big nations
through companies like Monsanto want us to depend on them for seeds and
that is the main reason why they are mostly targeting maize and other
grains because they are aware they are the staple foods of people in the
developing world," he says.
He adds that many parliamentarians and politicians need to understand the concept of GMOs.
"There are four
types of seeds or plants; indigenous, hybrid, improved, and GMOs," he
says, "however many people, including MPs, can't differentiate between
the last three."
According to Iga
who owns a 30 acre farm in Luweero District mainly specialising in agro
tourism and growing of fruits and vegetables, Uganda needs hybrids and
not GMOs.
"Hybrids have all the attributes of GMOs like resistance to diseases and drought and are safer," he says.
He says hybrids can
be propagated locally in Uganda and cites a variety of maize called
FACOM Long Grain which he created that he says is resistant to drought
and many diseases. He says GMOs, on the other hand, create are made by
big companies like Monsanto which become monopolies of the seed.
Iga rubbished the
idea that GMOs would increase food output and said more emphasis should
instead be put on developing irrigation system and providing fertilizers
to increase the output by the farmers. He said that even if GMOs are
introduced when many farmers are still depending on rains to grow crops
the problem of food insecurity will not solved.
"Can those
advocating for GMOs tell us whether GMOs will not need water like our
indigenous crops," says Iga who has also authored several books on
farming.
Hakim Baliraine, a
board member at Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers' Forum
(ESAFF - Uganda) said GMOs will only give short term solutions that are
not sustainable in the long run.
He explained that
indigenous seeds are still relevant but the challenge is mainly caused
by low soil fertility and environmental degradation.
"What government
should do is initiate irrigation schemes and subsidise the cost of
fertilizers for small farmers," Baliraine who is also a member of
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFISA).
The Independent
made numerous attempts to get NARO to explain their research but the
scientists became evasive and said Director General Agona answers such
questions. But Agona, when contacted on phone, said he was "too busy".
He asked that questions be sent to his e-mail but still did not answer
them.
Unanswered questions
The questions were
mainly on common concerns about GMOs, comments on the Burkina Faso GMO
fiasco, biosafety and diversity, and farmer and environmental
protection, and effect of GMOs on pollinating animals; including bees.
But Ntambirweki
says to avoid duping and misleading the public, the title of the Bill
before parliament should be changed to reflect what it is about instead
of trying to smuggle GMOs into the country using more permissible
language..
"The Bill is titled
The National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill but as it stands does not
provide for biosafety, which is a much broader and more specific field and needs an independent law to cover all aspects of biosafety beyond
GMOs," she says.
According to her,
the CSOs want the bill to be named 'The Genetic Modified Organisms and
Products Bill, 2016' so that "it actually reflects what is contained in
it".
Ntambirweki adds
that the Bill is also using a wrong definition of GMOs which talks only
about modern technological change of genes but does not cover the most
important differentiation between GMOs and other products, which is
propagation of new or altered organisms using genetic engineering.
Even people like
Patrick Luganda, the Executive Director of Farmers Media Link, who say
they are neutral in the war for or against GMOs, have concerns.
"What I want is assurance that it's safe for the health of people, farming and the eco system," Luganda says.
Luganda says it is
wrong to allow organisations like Monsanto to introduce GMOs so as to
have the monopoly over seed supplies in Uganda. He also says the law
needs to prescribe punitive sentences for any individuals involved in
GMO research which goes bad. He says affected individuals and farms
should also be compensated.
"Research into GMOs
should also be done locally and not sponsored by foreign organisations
which may have vested interests," Luganda says.
For now, the
Chairman of the Parliament's committee for Science and Technology,
Robert Kafeero Ssekitoleko (NRM, Nakifuma), says his committee is
finalising its report.
"I am optimistic
this time the Bill will pass because now many people have realised the
problem of not having the law in place with all the different pests
attacking our crops," Ssekitoleko said. The Minister for Agriculture,
Animal Industries and Fisheries, Vincent Ssempijja was also optimistic
that the Bill would soon pass into law.
"I can assure you
the Bill will pass very soon," Ssempijja told The Independent on phone.
It is not clear how Ntambirweki and her group can stop that.
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