Recently, Kenya lifted the ban on GMOs. That decision was one of the first by the new administration led by President Ruto. Not too long ago, Ethiopia also granted permission for the modification of its Potatoes against the late blight disease which has been in the forefront of ravaging potato farms across the continent.
These developments are of great significance for scientists on the continent who are working daily for the improvement of crop varieties that Africa has the comparative advantages in producing and which has become daily staple for the average African.
Late Blight is a huge challenge for potato farmers not only in Ethiopia but also in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and host to other diseases in other countries on the continent. In Nigeria, every year, late blight disease of Potato destroys around 221,000 tonnes of Potatoes valued at $213 million and also cost $6.21 million in fungicide to control the disease.
In Nigeria, potato remains the third most important root and tuber crop after yam and cassava. It has a shorter growth cycle of 3 months compared to 9 and 12 months for yam and cassava, respectively. In 2019, the area of potato cultivation was estimated at 329,000 ha. Late blight is widespread, and potato production still relies largely on poor-quality farmer-saved seed and occasional seed import, primarily from Europe.
All the potatoes varieties grown in Nigeria are susceptible to late blight, leading to average farmer yields of around 4.2 tonnes/ha which is far below the world average. Scientists at the National Root Crop Research Institute are already working to release resistant varieties to farmers.
There have been a lot of criticisms on why GMOs but a recent publication on GM Crops & Food published in three peer-reviewed and open-access papers about the economic and environmental impacts of genetically modified (GM) crops from 1996 to 2020 shows that the crops were rather improving livelihood and contributing to environmental sustainability.
The first paper tackled the global environmental impact of GM crops with pesticide use change. GM crops with herbicide tolerance and insect resistance are the leading technologies that impact pesticide use. With over 24 years of widespread adoption of these technologies, pesticide application has declined by 748.6 million kg (−7.2%) of the active ingredient.
This decline has further led to the reduced environmental impact associated with insecticide and herbicide use on these crops (as measured by the indicator, the Environmental Impact Quotient) by a more significant 17.3% between 1996 and 2020.
GM crops have also helped reduce carbon emissions. Widespread adoption of GM crops has led to a significant decrease in on-farm fuel use and helped farmers move from plow-based systems to reduced or no-tillage systems.
In 2020, the estimated reduction in carbon emissions was equivalent to taking 15.6 million cars off the road for the year.
Aside from the environmental benefits, studies also reported the economic impact of GM crops. GM crop adopters’ farm incomes increased by US$261.3 billion US dollars from 1996 to 2020. This is equivalent to a US$112/hectare average farm income gain. The majority (72%) of the gains were due to an increase in yield, while the remaining 28% was attributed to cost savings.
Nigeria population is heading to 450 million by 2050. Feeding the current 211 million requires us to think outside the box and hoe and cutlas as being preached in certain quarters cannot help us. We need to explore the opportunities that can guarantee maximum productivity of crops on the same old piece of land that had been overused.
Nigeria has granted the political will and allowed scientists free hands to explore the possibilities of introducing technologies that has the potentials of ensuring that crops productivity is greatly enhanced. A quick look at the mandate of all the 17 agricultural research institutes across Nigeria shows that genetic improvement of their mandate crop is paramount.
We cannot therefore be deceived or held back by armchaircritics who fly round the world and eat GMOs all over the places but come home and condemn efforts to use the same technology to improve our staples.
Already countries in America are profiting from the technology and there is nothing stopping Nigeria as the giant of Africa from tapping into this technology for the benefit of our teeming farmers and to guarantee food and nutritional security.
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