GMO maize to hit your plate after end of public participation

The National Biosafety Authority (NBA) concluded collecting views from Kenyans on the rollout and placement of Genetically Modified Maize or BT Maize in the market on January 6, 2025. In a notice published in the dailies and on social media, the NBA, on December 6, 2024, asked Kenyans to give their views since mid-December. The move followed an application for the license to grow maize in the country by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF). Justice Oscar Angote of the Environment and Land's Court in October 2023 okayed the rollout of BT Maize and said it did not pose a significant threat to Kenyans, adding that there were measures in place to prevent it. If Kalro and AATF get the green light from the NBA, they will grow BT Maize openly for the next 10 years. The process required Kenyans to give views on whether they support or oppose the rollout and to state why through an online document or email. Kalro is a parastatal, while the AATF is a Pan-African non-profit organisation established in 2003 to support small-scale farmers with technology solutions. AATF is backed by the Africa Development Bank, Syngenta Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. READ: Farmers to get GMO maize seeds from March 2023 Kenya has been planting GMO non-food products, particularly BT Cotton but the NBA has been carrying out field trials for other crops. Some of the recent trials to be rolled out by NBA included water-efficient and improved maize for African soils in Makueni and Kitale, respectively, and virus-resistant sweet potatoes and cassava in Kakamega and Thika, respectively. Others are GM potatoes in Nakuru and Kiambu, respectively, and the purple gypsophilla flowers in Naivasha. The BT Maize that Kalro and AATF seek to grow in Kenya is owned by Bayer Company and has been licensed royalty-free to the TELA Maize project to benefit farmers in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Mozambique. "Genetically modified maize with event MON 89034 contains cry1A.105 and cry2Ab2 genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) subsp. kurstaki which confer resistance to stem borers and the fall armyworm," the two organisations say in the licence application. They say it will be an additional tool for mitigating the damaging effects of borers and fall armyworms. "This technology, with highly selective mode of action only to certain target lepidopteran insect pests, will also reduce overreliance on chemical insecticides that are costly and which also impact negatively on humans, animals and the environment, including the beneficial non-target organisms." Once BT Maize has been approved for environmental release the seeds will undergo evaluation under the Seeds and Plant Varieties Act of Kenya before official rollout. According to Kalro and AATF, BT Maize is not different from the conventional maize Kenyans are used to and the only way to differentiate the two once in the market will be the labelling as per the Biosafety Act, 2009. "This maize [GMO] has been shown to be as safe and nutritious as conventional maize," said Kalro and AATF. Kenya will become the sixteenth country to improve its cultivation after Argentina, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Mexico. Others are the European Union, Paraguay, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Vietnam and the USA. "Upon environmental release, maize with event MON 89034 is expected to be used in the same manner as any other maize that is cultivated in Kenya and elsewhere. This will cover seed production, grain production for food, feed and for industrial processing." The s say that the rollout is unlikely to have any adverse consequences on human and animal health as well as the environment. Awareness Campaign To win the Kenyan's approval the Kenya Kwanza administration has co-opted religious leaders to help them spread the GMO gospel as part of their campaign to create awareness in the country. ALSO READ: GMO maize new lifeline for ASAL producersThis move comes after a judgment by Justice Lawrence Mugambi that dismissed all four cases opposing GMOs which was a major win for President William Ruto. Five cases were filed after Ruto's Cabinet decision on October 3, 2022, to lift the ban on GMOs that had been in place since November 8, 2012. Justice Mugure Thande issued temporary orders stopping it from taking effect, she further directed that one of the cases challenging BT Maize be placed before the Environment and Land's Court. The rest which were challenging GMO in general were to be heard by the Constitution and Human Rights Division. Justice Angote on October 2023 dismissed the case challenging BT Maize that the Law Society of Kenya had filed.

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