Business Daily (Nairobi)
Zeddy Sambu
20 August 2007
Farmers are protesting the introduction of a new law that will allow mass production of genetically modified crops and animals.
The farmers want the Bio-safety Bill, which is set for debate in Parliament shelved until its impact on agricultural production costs is assessed.
Despite detailed consultations that led to the publishing of the Bill, the farmers say their views were largely ignored.
Industry experts say the Bio-safety law move will bring more efficiency in agricultural production as a source of food and income generation. The Bill, if enacted, will see the establishment of a Bio-safety authority.
"It will give an internationally recognised Bio-safety framework within which to tap the enormous benefits of biotechnology, " said Mr Simon Gichuki, head of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute's (Kari) bio technology centre.
Biotech solutions lead to higher yields and improved crop resistance to pests and diseases, enhancing food security.
According to Kari, diseases and abiotic factors such as drought, soil pH and poor plant and animal genotypes hamper profitable agricultural production in the country. Biotechnology programmes offer real opportunities to overcome them.
Kenya is one of the eight demonstration countries implementing their National Biosafety Frameworks (NBF) under a United Nations Environment Programme fund.
Being one of the African countries with a high level of scientific capacity in biotechnology, commercial use of the products that have already been developed will be made possible by the new law.
The bill was approved last September by the cabinet together with a Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy. Despite lack of a legal framework, Kenya has in recent years applied an interim system for use and handling of biotechnology products.
To date, five approvals for research and development and six others for confined field-testing have been granted under the auspices of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. Most investments in biotechnology in Kenya have been in the field of agriculture.
The debate on agricultural biotechnology in many African countries pit proponents who see it as a panacea to low yields against critics expressing attendant human health and environmental concerns.
"The proponents point to the successes of the technology in theUSA while the opponents look to the crises that have been witnessed in Europe," says Prof Patricia Kameri Mbote, an associate professor of law at the University of Nairobi.
In Kenya, biotechnology development is taking place within the context of policies governing agriculture, health, trade and environment. One big obstacle, however, is conservative consumer preference especially in the area of food.
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