|
June 26, 2009
Source:
Daily Nation via
African Agricultural
Technology Foundation
Kenya will soon start confined
field trials of drought-tolerant transgenic maize variety in a
project spearheaded by Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.
The project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is
in the process of seeking regulatory approval for the confined
field trials from the National Biosafety Committee (NBC).
The project, known as the Water Efficient Maize for Africa
(WEMA) project, is being implemented in five African countries –
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. It is a
public-private partnership led by the national agricultural
research systems in the respective countries.
The Nairobi-based non-profit organization African Agricultural
Technology Foundation (AATF) is coordinating the project. Other
institutions involved include the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Monsanto.
Varieties
The request to conduct the confined field trial comes in
addition to the Kari testing of Bt maize on a trial basis in
confined field trials. Bt maize varieties provide hope for
conquering the stem borer, a moth that is mainly responsible for
on average 15 per cent loss of maize yields.
Bt is the abbreviation for Bacillus thuringiensis, a
bacterium that commonly occurs in soils. Bt maize has been
genetically modified to produce a protein – Bt protein – that
kills certain chewing insects.
While the borer has caused extreme anguish to farmers,
inadequate rainfall has been the biggest constraint of African
agriculture, making drought tolerance one of the most important
targets of crop improvement programmes.
Three-quarters of the world’s severe droughts during the past 10
years have occurred in Africa. While poor farmers account for 60
per cent of global agriculture, they only manage to produce
about 20 per cent of world’s food.
As it is, agriculture needs a whole lot of water: one kilogram
of rice needs up to 5,000 litres of water while a kilogram of
maize needs 630 litres. In this project, AATF, CIMMYT, and
Monsanto have signed a legal agreement so that drought-tolerant
maize varieties developed through this project will be licensed
to AATF.
AATF will identify local seed multipliers to make the seed
available to smallholder African farmers at the regular price of
maize seed without royalty. WEMA seeks to develop
drought-tolerant maize for Africa using conventional breeding,
marker-assisted breeding, and biotechnology.
The long-term goal is to make drought-tolerant maize varieties
available royalty-free for the drought-tolerant trait to
small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conventional breeding
can eventually be used to develop drought-resistant varieties,
but the process is laborious and takes years. |
|
