My attention has just been drawn to the above article published in the 7 March 2014 edition of SpyGhana on the internet. The erroneous impression or, may I say, the miseduction on the issues require to be addressed. Permit to react to the issues as raised in your report.
There is no GM technology on the market that leads to the production of seeds that will not germinate. In the case of hybrid ?seed, farmers cannot save seeds that emerge from the high yielding hybrid crop for next planting due to the fact that the planting of such seeds will result in germination all right but the growth and eventual production are poor due to the ?random mixing and combination? of genes back to the original inbred lines or original parents with an accompanying loss of vigour. The farmer MUST purchase new hybrid seed every year. Ghana has produced hybrid maize seed since 1997. These are ?Dada-ba?, ?CIDA-ba? and ?Mama-ba?. ?CIDA-ba? and ?Dada-ba? are no longer in circulation. In 2013, CSIR released a more high yielding hybrid called CSIR-adikanfo? with a far more superior yield. These hybrids are NOT GM crops. The hybrids can, however, be genetically modified to control, for instance, a very recalcitrant pest. The farmer cannot keep seed from such a GM hybrid not because it is GM but because it is hybrid.
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For the non-hybrid varieties, where the farmer can keep seed, it is recommended that they do not keep seed beyond the third year of successive planting due to the loss of vigour.
… the group, the issue is very disturbing if not frightening, because there is the possibility of a gradual shift from dependence on naturally produced crops to crops produced under this technology which also means, the human race might eventually be at the mercy of producers of genetically modified seeds in order to feed itself.
?This statement is patently FALSE. The introduction of GM crops will not mean the withdrawal of all other seeds. There will be conventional seeds (hybrid or non-hybrid) for farmer use based on choice. The GM variety where introduced may exhibit superiority in a particular trait but could be more expensive than other conventional seeds. Despite the cost, it is the return from planting the seeds that makes them attractive. Those who cannot buy the GM variety are free to purchase other varieties that will also be available. Public research institutions, like the Ghana?CSIR, will continuously produce a mixture of varieties, some GM and some non-GM (hybrid?or conventional).
??If this is not an attempt to endanger the human race by limiting the supply of crops which nature provides freely,….
Again, this is a false premise and does not make sense! GM crops are introduced where conventional techniques of development cannot produce varieties that adequately address a challenge. They do not prevent the use of other varieties.
??In the case of Ghana,we believe, that if the reason for our wish to adopt genetically modified technology is to ensure food sufficiency then when we have gotten it all wrong.This is because we have obviously not made the least use of the numerous opportunities that the nation is naturally endowed with…
I do not see the relevance of this argument to building capacity to use GM technologies on a need basis. In the absence of GM (we have not yet introduced GM crops for commercial cultivation) will the youth go to the land? Despite the effort put in to get the youth into agriculture, not much progress is being made. Can the youth dialogue with government on their needs to stay in the rural area to do modern agriculture? Mention is made of a National Youth Policy. Is there a strategic plan to implement this policy? If there is, what are the agreed timelines with government?
The youth should have an open mind and to adopt a?pragmatic?attitude towards new technologies in the way we are seeing with ICT and,by the?way, this is also for application in modern farming and now a component of the tools in the development of GM technologies. The field is bioinformatics.
I hope you can publish this short communication for the attention of the FYPD. It is possible that after all, they have an open mind and will learn something from this.
?Prof Walter S. Alhassan
P. O. Box CT 5988,
Accra, Ghana
E-mail:[email protected]??
