Biotechnology will increase food security and improve nutrition

Several hundred children in Zaire wait for food to be distributed by the UN World Food Program. (CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images)

Wambugu made the statement at a stakeholder's forum to discuss the "Global status of commercialised biotech genetically modified (GM) crops in Accra” on August 3.

According to her, Africa's population might unavoidably increase by 50 per cent, hence there was the need to increase food production.

“The assertion that Africa lacked the knowledge on biotechnology was false due to the extensive research that had gone into the sector in Africa, making the continent qualified enough to espouse the technology,” she said.

She, however, emphasised that it would require a high-level political will to make biotechnology effectively adopted in Africa as being advocated for by scientists.

In his remarks, an Agricultural Biotechnologist and Biosafety Policy Consultant at the Forum For Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA), Prof Walter Alhassan, observed that due to the level of fear in people as a result of the misinformation received on biotechnology, no amount of information given them would be accepted, no matter how beneficial the technology was.

Alhassan, therefore, stressed the need for a book on biotechnology to help agricultural biotechnology development in Africa.

Jim Gaffney of DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology acknowledged the importance of the technology as well as ICT in agriculture to make information dissemination easier.

Gaffney said over 15 million people in West Africa had used the technology and that what was needed was to make the technology present at the doorsteps of regulators.

He said addressing issues of infrastructure for scientific research and training for people to appreciate the issues and understand safety, not only for humans but also for the environment as a whole, were critical in their quest to break the myth surrounding biotechnology.

He noted that poverty was endemic in Africa because Africa was behind in agriculture and that what was worrying was the importation of agriculture products, which resulted in making farmers in Africa poorer.

Gaffney said that if African countries wanted to overcome poverty, they would need to promote agriculture by making use of biotechnology to transform agriculture.

According to Gaffney if people consumed yogurt and other processed foods, then there was no need for them to fight biotechnology because it was already in the system and could, therefore, not be avoided.

He said the earlier they embraced biotechnology, the better it would be in saving the human race from hunger, and ensure food security for the development of the African continent.

He, therefore, urged African leaders not to deny African children the opportunity to eat nutritious food.