Kampala, Uganda
February 8, 2008
by Ochieng' Ogodo,
SciDev.Net
Uganda has approved confined field trials of genetically
modified (GM) cotton, the second GM crop to be trialled in the
country.
The country's National Biosafety Committee (NBC) gave the go
ahead 'in principle' for the trials of a Bt cotton variety,
which is resistant to the bollworm pest, in August 2007, so long
as certain conditions were met.
Those measures are now being put in place, and the trials will
begin in May, according to Arthur Makara, senior science officer
(Biosafety) and NBC secretary.
Bollworm is a devastating pest in Uganda, causing crop losses of
up to 40 per cent and wiping out an entire crop during "pest
surges", Makara told SciDev.Net.
The move follows the approval in April 2006 of trials of bananas
resistant to Black Sigatoka, a bacterial disease that causes
necrosis of leaves and low crop yields.
The National Semi-Arid Resources Research Institute (NaSARRI),
under the National Agricultural
Research Organisation, will carry out the Bt cotton trials
in Uganda's Kasese district.
Eemetai Areke, NaSARRI director and lead investigator of the
project, said that the trials will provide vital information for
the development of a Bt cotton variety suited to the Ugandan
environment.
The study, says Makara, aims to prove that Bt cotton can address
the problem of bollworm damage in Uganda. "It is aimed at
collecting data on the potential of Bt cotton as a remedy to the
bollworm problem," he says.
The trial sites will be isolated from other cotton sites by
distances of no less than 200 metres and will be fenced off with
strong fencing material, as recommended by the NBC. Entry will
be restricted to the scientists working on the trials.
Makara says the trials signal that Uganda is taking further
steps to increase the capacity of its scientists to research,
and understand, the principles and practices of modern
biotechnology.
"The data they will collect will inform policy decisions in case
of a request for commercialisation of Bt cotton in Uganda in the
future, or in the case of legal or illegal transboundary
movements of Bt cotton through Uganda," he said. |
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