Comment
The views of Pro-GMOs Ugandan Scientists in the article below are naïve and
hypocritical . For example:
Jackie Atim, a plant pathologist at the National Agricultural Research
Organisation (Naro), disagrees with Oloya’s assertion that genetically modified
crops or food will enslave Ugandan farmers for generations. Atim insists that
biotechnology is the way to go and therefore, the Bio-safety Bill, which is under
parliamentary scrutiny, is just timely. “The bill is here to control the usage
and conserve those seeds planted year after year with reducing yields…but are
of benefit and joy to our farmers,” she argues. She believes the country can’t
talk of commercialisation of agriculture, with a hand hoe and poor planting
materials without accepting at least hybrids or genetically modified seeds.
“This bill has nothing to do with Monsanto, Canada [GM corporations] or the
rest of the world; it is about Uganda’s domestic needs being addressed by
our own policymakers ... Organic farming is a lifestyle and Uganda is leading
in the world by default,” she wrote, noting that genetically modified seeds
will be supplied to farmers at a low price.
Ms Atim’s thinking that commercialization of
Agriculture is synonymous with introduction GMOs is an error in reasoning. Many
countries have commercialized organic farming that has guaranteed their
populations food security . She also argues that the bill has nothing to do
with Mosanto, not knowing that according to Uganda’s
Plan for the modernization of Agriculture, the private sector is the fulculum
of Uganda’s
economy. This simply means that once the
Bio-technology and Bio-safety bill is passed, private multinational prayers
like Mosanto will have a lee way into this enterprise after all they are the
experts when it comes to GMOs. What will Ms Atim do when Mosanto throws billions
of dollars into NARO and the pockets and mouths of
scientists there in ? She opines that Uganda is leading the world in
organic farming by default. She needs to be ware that Uganda is not leading by default
but by divine providence. Ms Atim also reiterates that genetically modified
seeds will be supplied to farmers at a low price however she does not
tell us what will happen to farmers who can not afford that so called low
price.
In the same
article, Jacqueline Nyagahima, head of communication, at the Association for
Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA),
believes poverty is what will enslave generations of Ugandan farmers if the
country doesn’t harness and embrace science. “We have very capable and
responsible Ugandan scientists. After 12 years of hard work, our own Ugandan
scientists have released to farmers, varieties of cassava that are tolerant to
both the cassava brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease. You may be
aware that these diseases had affected cassava production in the country and
made very many Ugandans, food insecure. Farmers are multiplying these cassava
varieties to make the clean planting materials available to other
farmers,” she notes.
Jacquline’s argument that ‘’We have very capable and responsible Ugandan scientists who
will not let us down once The Biotectenology and Biosafety bill is passed is laughable.
Are these scientists from Mars? Isn’t Uganda
one of the most corrupt countries in the world? What makes one think that being
a scientists is synonymous with being
ethical and having integrity ? We need to note the USA has some of the most capable
and ‘responsible’ scientists who have
been swept off their feet by Mosanto billions. How many Ugandan scientists will
stand up to protect Uganda’s
God given organic heritage when Mosanto Invests billions of dollars purposely
to kill this organic heritage. Jacqueline should be
ware that the introduction of GMO escalates poverty because it dismantles the
organic seed heritage that the farmers depend on from season to season. This
tantamount to food terrorism and is an attack
on the right of Ugandans to food sovereignty .
Tom Egwang, a
lecturer in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Makerere,
concurs. “Opiyo Oloya’s [opinion] boiled my blood and made me want to scream.
How can GMOs enslave Ugandans? Uganda has very capable scientists, who are now
transforming matooke and other food crops to confer upon them higher
nutritional content, this will only go towards ensuring food and
nutritional security,” he argues. Egwang believes that scientists at
Kawanda and Namulonge are working at the cutting edge of science. “They
[scientists] are not working at the call of any multinational. They are working
towards freeing Ugandans from the shackles of hunger and malnutrition. Opiyo
Oloya, do you call this enslavement? If this is enslavement, you must be
hailing from another planet,” he posted.
Tom is oblivious of the fact
that Ugandan scientists are some of the least underpaid in the world and hence once
Mosanto Pavlovises them with billion of dollars in order to dismantle Uganda’s
organic heritage, they will surely not stand. It is surprising that Ugandan
scientists are very ignorant of economic globalization
and naively think that they can play an isolationist role when it comes
to agricultural research. Ugandan scientists need to know that what causes
hunger in Uganda
is not food scarcity but rather maldistribution. The people in Karamoja for instance are dying of hunger as
a lot of food is thrown away else where in Uganda . It is surprising that the
government has completely done away with the idea of Food reserves(SILOS). Therefore , once GMOs are legally introduced
in Uganda , research in
improving organic food varieties by Ugandan scientists will die a natural death
and the entry and control of Uganda’s
agricultural research by Multinationals like Mosanto is inevitable. Ugandan
scientists need to be honest and patriotic as regards the protection of Uganda’s food
sovereignty.
Academics, activists clash over GMO bill
Sunday, 09 June 2013 21:24
After years of debate and preparation,
Canadian-based Ugandan columnist Opiyo Oloya has asked Parliament to shelve the
Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill, 2012.
Oloya, a teacher, argues that genetically
modified crops (GMOs) do not regenerate, meaning generations of poor farmers
will have to buy seeds from profit-hungry companies.
However, Oloya’s recommendation has kicked off a
furious e-mail debate among scientists and researchers at Makerere University,
Kawanda and Namulonge Research Centres. Edward Ssekika
followed the discussion.
Jackie Atim, a plant pathologist
at the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro), disagrees with
Oloya’s assertion that genetically modified crops or food will enslave Ugandan
farmers for generations. Atim insists that biotechnology is the way to go and
therefore, the Bio-safety Bill, which is under parliamentary scrutiny, is just
timely.
“The bill is here to control the usage and
conserve those seeds planted year after year with reducing yields…but are of
benefit and joy to our farmers,” she argues.
She believes the country
can’t talk of commercialisation of agriculture, with a hand hoe and poor
planting materials without accepting at least hybrids or genetically modified
seeds.
“This bill has nothing to do with Monsanto,
Canada [GM corporations] or the rest of the world; it is about Uganda’s
domestic needs being addressed by our own policymakers ... Organic farming is a
lifestyle and Uganda is leading in the world by default,” she wrote, noting
that genetically modified seeds will be supplied to farmers at a low price.
Tom Egwang, a lecturer in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Makerere, concurs.
“Opiyo Oloya’s [opinion] boiled my blood and made
me want to scream. How can GMOs enslave Ugandans? Uganda has very capable scientists,
who are now transforming matooke and other food crops to confer upon them
higher nutritional content, this will only go towards ensuring food and
nutritional security,” he argues.
Egwang believes that scientists at Kawanda and
Namulonge are working at the cutting edge of science.
“They [scientists] are not working at the call of
any multinational. They are working towards freeing Ugandans from the shackles
of hunger and malnutrition. Opiyo Oloya, do you call this enslavement? If this
is enslavement, you must be hailing from another planet,” he posted.
Jacqueline Nyagahima, head of communication, at the Association for Strengthening Agricultureal Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), believes poverty is what will enslave generations of Ugandan farmers if the country doesn’t harness and embrace science.
“We have very capable and responsible Ugandan
scientists. After 12 years of hard work, our own Ugandan scientists have
released to farmers, varieties of cassava that are tolerant to both the cassava
brown streak disease and cassava mosaic disease. You may be aware that these
diseases had affected cassava production in the country and made very many
Ugandans, food insecure. Farmers are multiplying these cassava varieties to
make the clean planting materials available to other farmers,” she notes.
Nyagahima qualifies her argument by giving the
example of farmers in the districts of Kiryandongo, Apac and Arua who are
multiplying the cassava variety called NASE 14, which has doubled their
fortune.
“They [farmers] were full of praise of the
variety and are looking to reap good money from the sales of the cuttings
(seed), and the tubers (food). Farmers, who were early beneficiaries, told us
of the large profits they had got from selling the cuttings. Arua district
chairman said cassava is a crop the district is using to free people from
‘enslavement’ to tobacco production,” she noted.
However, Giregon Olupot, a soil bio-physicist and lecturer in the department of Agriculture Production at Makerere University, supports Dr Oloya and compares GMOs to the tyranny of aid.
“We need to nurture our home-grown science and
technology without compromising our indigenous knowledge systems and practices,
spanning centuries upon centuries back, but which are now threatened by being
wiped out at a mere blink of an eye by genetic manipulation…,” Olupot noted.
He accuses pro-GMO scientists and journalists
whom he claims are wellfacilitated, motivated and coached to discredit and
neutralise any emerging evidence against GMOs. Olupot says there is no proof
that farmers’ practices can be protected from contamination with GMOs, be it in
Africa or outside Africa.
“What I detest is for gene manipulators to blind
us, that all has failed and therefore that we desperately need this terrorist
GMO bill passed, or we are doomed. I’m willing to reconcile and join hands with
you to address our people’s problems that we were educated to address,” Olupot
says.
“If we truly cherish the truth, let us face it …
there is no middle ground between tampering with DNA and, tapping into the
magic alternatives that exist to address our problems without genetic
manipulation. You are either for the tyranny of GMOs or for Africa’s
way of life.” he wrote.
Dr Chris Bakuneeta, a lecturer in the department of Zoology at Makerere, notes that scientists need to develop the capacity to assess the environmental risks from GMOs.
“But the starting point is accepting that we go slow but sure. Most African countries are not far ahead of the Bio-safety Bill. However, the impression you get is that Uganda is very ready and if we do not pass the bill, hell will land here,” he writes.
Sam Nzabandora wants more considerations. “GM food corporations are not donors; they are there to make money for their shareholders by patenting the crops and seeds so that you pay them every time you eat. They set the price and since there is hardly any competition, prices will keep rising,” he says.
Accepting GMO through the bio technology bill
means that if a poor farmer is caught replanting the harvested GM seeds/crops,
because he or she can’t afford to buy the needed seeds, he or she will be
prosecuted. “How on earth does that help the poor? Rural farmers who lack
a lot will have to pay every time they plant GM seeds,” he said.
“This is not fiction. It is happening right now,
Prince Charles claims that thousands of Indian farmers were killing themselves
after using GM crops. Now if educated individuals able to use the internet
don’t seem to understand that the GM corporations’ interest is not about
feeding the hungry, but making the most money for their shareholders, how will
a villager who never went to school understand patent law?”
Ellady Muyambi, a civil society activist, says many countries have already imposed a ban on the cultivation and sale of GMOs and he wonders why Uganda wants to adopt GM technology. Muyambi cites countries like Ireland, Germany, Austria, Hungry, Greece, and Bulgaria, among others, where GM crops are banned.
“In Switzerland, the country banned all
GMO crops, animals, and plants on its fields and farms in a public referendum
in 2005. If these niche destinations for Uganda’s
agro products outlawed GMOs, why should we even think about making Uganda a GMO
economy?” he wonders.
