Official warns of illegal GMos in the market

By Ochieng’ Ogodo and Sam Ntale in Entebbe

Kenyans may be consuming unapproved Genetically Modified products (GMO), the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) has warned.

Mr Abed Kagunda Mathagu, a Kephis official, said the food finds its way to the markets through legal and illegal entry points.

"Although there is capacity for testing, there is poor co-ordination among regulatory agencies," he said.

He spoke when he presented a paper, Agricultural Biotechnology to African Farmers: Linking Economic Research to Decision Making, at a conference organised by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Entebbe, Uganda.

He said there is only one laboratory capable of testing GMOs.

"This calls for more capacity building and setting up better rapid detection mechanisms at the entry points," he said.

　

Share information

Mathagu said information shared with trading partners on GMO decisions and activities was important.

He said although Kenya’s law on biosafety is a new one, international laws could complement regulations for conventional products. Mathagu said GMO technology was at trial level in Kenya.

During the conference, international experts, key policy makers, farmers’ associations and private sector representatives emphasised the need to increase agricultural production to deal with food insecurity.

They said hunger was a threat to millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in rural areas.

"In the future, growing populations, stagnating agricultural productivity and climate change will make it more difficult for Africa to tackle poverty, hunger and malnutrition," said IFPRI Director for Environment and Production Technology Division Mark Rosegrant.

He added: "To confront these challenges, many African countries assess a range of tools and technologies, including agricultural biotechnologies, which hold great promise for improving crop yields, household incomes and nutrition in a sustainable way."

Experts at the conference said farmers and policy makers in Africa were slow in embracing biotechnology due to many hurdles.

　

regulation attempts

"The regulatory frameworks have been more precautionary than promote the safe use of biotechnology in Africa," said Rosegrant.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications Director Margaret Karembu said information on biotechnology has not been communicated effectively.

"Science communication is not about sale of products but development of a science culture, where the public can understand results and make informed decisions," she said.