Kampala, Uganda
July 2, 2008
Sopurce:
The New Vision via
Checkbiotech
By Kikonyogo Ngatya, The
New Vision
Agricultural scientists are preparing to begin testing
genetically modified cotton in Uganda this year. The variety,
known as BT cotton, will be tried on experimental plots
beginning November before being released to farmers for mass
cultivation.
Care will be taken to ensure that the BT cotton does not
crossbreed with other varieties during the trial period, says Dr
Thomas Areke, director of the National Semi Arid Resources
Research Institute at Serere in Soroti district, which will host
the study.
Other experimental plots have been prepared at Busitema
University along the Tororo-Bugiri highway.
Whereas agricultural scientists say the development will protect
cotton from pests, significantly improve yields and make farmers
richer, environmental activists are up in arms.
Areke says Uganda's cotton has been steadily declining and
introduction of the genetically modified variety would help
reverse the trend. Annual cotton production has declined from
467,000 bales in 1969 to 60,000 bales last year, according to
the Cotton Development Authority. A number of small holder
farmers are abandoning cotton due to various challenges such as
poor yields, pests and low prices. In turn, a number of ginners,
including Lira Millers, hitherto one of the largest in East
Africa, stopped operation due to lack of raw materials.
According to Areke, BT cotton is designed to resist the
ballworm, a notorious cotton pest that is devastating the crop
countrywide. In some cotton growing districts especially in
Apac, Soroti, Busia, Tororo and Kasese districts, studies have
indicated that the ball worm has reduced yields by almost half,
according to NARO researchers. Under the same study, another
gene will also be introduced into local cotton to suffocate
weeds that might grow around the cotton plants.
Under the current regulations by the Uganda National Council for
science and technology, which Cabinet approved recently, trials
are supposed to be done in an enclosed environment.
So far, the only genetically modified crop trial going on in
Uganda is that of bananas, restricted to experimental plots at
the National Agricultural Research Laboratories in Kawanda,
Wakiso district.
Monsanto, a US based biotechnology company, has agreed to help
Ugandan scientists make BT cotton by inserting into the crop, a
gene derived from a soil-borne bacteria called Bacillus
thurigensis. The gene will then enable the crop to suffocate the
ballworm, the way the bacteria itself would have done.
Mosanto says BT cotton has delivered major economic and
environmental benefits in USA. In the first ten years of use
(1996-2005), the farmers who used genetically modified (Bt)
insect resistant technology in the United States, derived a
total of nearly $9.9 billion worth of extra farm income, with
much of this benefit going to small, resource poor farmers in
developing countries (especially from the use of Bt
cotton),according to Monsanto. Over this 10-year-period,
insecticide use reduced dramatically.
Areke said they expect similar benefits in Uganda, but cannot
let farmers take up the new variety before they test it in
experimental plots. "We have the mandate to develop technologies
to boost production but the decision on whether to adopt or not
for market or environmental reasons is not ours," says Areke.
At Serere and Busitema, where BT cotton will be tried out, no
other cotton varieties will be allowed within 200 metres. This,
says Areke, will prevent BT cotton from contaminating the local
varieties with its genes before it passes the scientific test.
"Cotton pollen is heavy and can not be carried by wind. However,
we still have to take into account all the requirements for the
trial," Areke said.
But, Chebet Maikut, a farmer and former President of the Uganda
National Farmers Federation, says scientists should not do the
research on their own without involving farmers. Farmers are
more likely to adopt a new breed or technology if they are
involved in developing it, he argues.
Environmental activists, on the other hand, say introduction of
genetically modified cotton is not the solution. Godber
Tumushabe, the Executive Director of Advocates Coalition for
Development and the Environment said such a study was
unnecessary since the Government had failed with the extension
delivery mechanism to farmers.
"Products of genetic modification are at the bottom of
interventions that can be done to salvage the sector. It has
clearly been established that with good management skills,
farmers can improve yields and fight both pests and diseases,"
Tumushabe said.
Tumushabe told a press conference that BT cotton research should
be put on hold until the Plant Protection Bill is passed in
parliament.
The bill seeks to regulate the protection of plant diversity in
the country from exploitation that may endanger their well
being.
Despite such protests, the trial will go ahead because it was
approved by the National Biosafety Committee. Arthur Makara,
secretary to the committee, was quoted as saying the trial was
approved as early as August last year.
"The data they (scientists) 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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