Deo Tumusiime Kabwende
21 August 2008
opinion
Some years back when scientists came up with the idea of enhancing fast growth in crops, many people thought it was a second redemption of the world from hunger. Yes, the idea was that the life span of different crops would be halved, thus enabling agriculturalists to harvest earlier than normal, feed the hungry while making loads of cash, but do we appreciate the danger in all this?
I hate it when I see people, human beings trying to play around with God's creation rather than patiently doing their research to enhance the aspects which God so perfectly created- and whenever anyone attempts to compete with God, he or she is assured of automatic defeat. I mean, it's simply evident that genetically modified crops are simply abnormal whether plants or animals.
A friend of mine happened to purchase an orange tree plant from a so-called research centre. She planted it in her compound, and within a few months, she was harvesting fruits five times as huge as the ordinary oranges. She said, "Wow! How huge!" When she opened the orange, it hardly had a seed in it, and was virtually tasteless.
The one or two seeds in this GM orange cannot surely reproduce - and who needs a garden of tasteless oranges? No, imagine that each time one is to plant an orange, they must buy from Kawanda (Research Station), yet initially seeds would be replanted.
I think our society has been infiltrated by domination agents of the west, this time a kind of superfluous colonialism that if we are not careful, could wipe out the African race. There are things in our culture which we call "ebizungu", to imply that they are from the white man's land. Unfortunately, overtime, these white man's items have been proved to be inferior to the original African stuff. Look at the huge passion fruits we have in town (obuzungu); their taste, colour and smell don't get anywhere close to original indigenous passion fruits.
The chicken produced through GM taste 'funny,' and their egg yolk itself shows they are simply a good attempt at the original but not quite. We are sacrificing quality at the altar of scientific discovery!
Has anyone realised that the above-mentioned enhanced items are slowly but surely taking over? What other hunger do we expect in future other than when the ordinary farmer in Nsiikye will not be able to purchase beans or maize to plant from a research station? When did Africans ever fail to keep sacks of maize to replant several seasons ahead? I am not saying that science is bad or that innovation is inappropriate, but let us exercise it with consideration of the wider scope of human life.
I am glad that the Prince of Wales came up openly and exposed some truths about GMs. Can the rest of the Western world listen to his remarks? Can they spare a moment and feel some sympathy for us Africans who depend half of our lives on their mercies?
At the end of the day, the bible says, "All things are nothing but vanity." Interestingly, God's judgment against those who knowingly cause harm to others is real and assured. Let the almighty who sees what is unseen take the stage.
The writer is a journalist and researcher
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
