Prof. Mahammed Faguji Ishiaku |
· *Makes Clarification between GMO and bio-fortification.
Prof. Mahammed Faguji Ishiaku is a plant
breeder and team leader of cowpea genetic engineering at IAR, Zaria. In his
chat with Food Farm Food differentiate between fortified improved varieties
using physical processing and bio-technology Engineering technics, said the
improved GMO cowpea would be officially presented for commercialization at
National by this December as he decried people that have ulterior motives
rather than concern for GMO operations in Nigeria. Excerpts…..
Can we meet you Prof.?
Thank you; I
am Prof. Mahammed Ishiaku, a plant breeder. I specifically breed cowpea, and I
also use modern technologies in my breeding methods including bio technology as
an intervention to develop improved cowpea varieties for the Institute for
Agricultural Research (IAR), based in Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. I have
been with the Institute doing lecturing and researching mainly into crops
improvement activities and we have come a long way by releasing 17 improved
cowpea varieties for Nigerians in farming communities.
You said 17 improved
cowpea varieties, are they genetically modify or just hybrid, what is the
difference between hybrid and GMO?
All these
improved varieties were developed within conventional scientific approaches,
and therefore they are not Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Hybrids are
not GMOs. Hybrids are conventionally developed varieties. Hybrids are crop
varieties that are mainly for out crossing crops, like maize, onions and the
like. Even in sorghum and rice, which
are supposedly to be self- pollinating crops, hybrid varieties have been
developed for them. This is to essentially emphasis that hybrid crops are not
GMOs.
I always want to catch on the
opportunity when I meet expert like you, what is the difference between
fortified varieties and GMO products?
Yes,
fortification is the scientific method of trying to give to a particular crop a
quality character that it used to have in very small quantity, by using some
scientific technics to manipulate its genetic composition that will raise the
level of this essential deficient characteristic that hitherto is very low in
the crop. For example, protein is very important for human’s body development
when taken in food dosage.
Crop like cassava for example is known to have a
very small protein but naturally has more carbohydrate. But crops like cowpea,
soybean and chickpea are all known to have a substantial level of protein of
about 1/3 as the entire crop composition. But cassava has very low protein
compared to these crops I mentioned. Now when you make cassava to produce much
protein as cowpea and others, then you say it has been fortified. Fortification
can be done physically by using chemical approaches during the processing of
the food. This is called physical fortification. It can as well be bio
fortification, thereby using biological materials to enhance the food
nutritional value of the crop. I am sure your question has to do with
bio-fortified cassava, bio-fortified sorghum and maize. These are essentially
giving these crops the genetic capacity which they do not possess or have
before, or the genetic capacity to be able to produce by themselves very higher
level of this nutrient they are lacking. And that is why we call them
bio-fortified. And many of these methods now use Bio- technology technics
through the approaches of Genetics engineering.
So, that does not make
them GMO products or what does it mean?
They could
be GMOs, if the technology used is Genetics Engineering, but if it was not, it
cannot be regarded as GMOs.
Could this buttress
some arguments that say there are GMOs in circulation?
No, the fact
that there are fortified foods does not make them GMO depending on the
approaches of fortification. By fortification, you can use chemical method in
the industry through processing. If it was baby food that you need to add more
protein as maize based food, and then you can get protein either from soybean
or cowpea and add them up to become fortified. What is lacking earlier is
protein, but now it has been fortified with protein. Fortification means
fortress, meaning it has become strong enough as food component. Now, instead
of taking physical process, you can now give the crop a genetic capacity by
taking a gene from outside another crop, so that it can be able on itself
manufacture the particular required gene or character by itself so that when
you harvest it, you will now have a well-fortified maize with enough protein,
or a very substantial protein component. And if the gene is taken outside
maize, then it becomes a GMO.
Have we any GMO in Nigeria?
In Nigeria
no, none to my knowledge in the country as regards to release for commercial
consumption. I do not know except somebody knows, and he wants to tell me.
Does that mean all
these recently released fortified crops like potato, cassava, maize etc are not
part of them?
They are not
released in Nigeria, fortified cassava GMO is not released in Nigeria. That of
potato is also not released in Nigeria.
So we don’t have them
circulation in Nigeria?
Well I would
not know because I have not gone to the food stores and analysis what they are
having in their shelves. I have not done that.
What about as planting
is concerned?
No any crop
yet on GMO for planting in Nigeria.
That brings me to why
I’m even here, why is cowpea registration not happening as expected as recently
some new crops varieties have been released for commercialization without any GMOs at NACGRAB, Ibadan?
Yes, we have
not finished our work and our calendar also for release is against 2017, and we
are still in 2017. So we hope to hit the target around December 2017, as we may
be able to submit for registration. We have never planned to release earlier
than 2017.
There has been so much
complain against GMOs, what is your stand? Some school of thought feel the
technology should not be accepted here and another feels otherwise saying we
need the technology ever than now? What is your take?
I usually
don’t blame people for raising concern, but what I blame people for is delving
into what they have no knowledge about which is unfortunate. This is like a new
technology in any society, if you have something new people are bound to have
doubts about it. But then the experts, I mean the owners of the technology should
be allowed to explain. And then if there were questions, the questions should
be posed to them and then allow it to be substantiated.
That is the essence of
a regulatory authority in the country. I am aware that the law that is the
bio-safety law of Nigeria— I mean this booklet contains all the do’s and don’ts
of the GMO operation in the country. This is the 2014 draft that was passed in
2015. This contains all the dos and don’ts about GMOs. If any GMO is found to
be harmful in anyway not only for food alone, but even for the environment, the
regulatory authority will not allow it to touch Nigeria soil in terms of
planting or harvesting it by producing it.
That is the long and short of it.
But what this other people are arguing is that let us not allow the technology
at all or completely. Why would you object a technology like that? It means you
have something ulterior. If your concern is simply about its harmfulness to the
environment, and being harmful as food materials, then you should allow the
regulatory body to do their work because they will not allow that to be
released. And besides, even I do not like to make a consideration like that,
America unlike our society is much sensitive than we are. And they have been
consuming this products very long time since 1992.
If there are issues with it,
the American government I tell you won’t have spared anybody, as they would
have removed them from the market. Now coming back to the concept, it is not in
every sphere that you will use GMO technology. It is only in those areas where
you are faced with a problem that cannot be solved using conventional very
simple technics. For example the insect are trying to bring resistance for in
cowpea, we have screened 15,000 different accessions or lines of cowpea with different
types of cowpea over the world. None of them have resistance to these insects.
If we have got any, we would have multiplied that one, and then use the
resistance to one in crossing the cowpea and develop an improved material. But
none in the cowpea. So we have to take gene outside cowpea relations and put it
inside the cowpea and it is working. It makes this new improved cowpea which we
are still testing to be resistant against this insect. It is like having a crop
that will produce its own insecticide against insects to protect itself. You
don’t need to spray any chemical anymore.
Yes, yes
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