A question of Genetic Modification

{jathumbnail off}You see a bunch of impossibly long fingers of banana and you just want to stick one in your mouth. Except one thought puts you off: it may have been modified, genetically. Soon that thought will be reality.Biotechnology'using microorganisms to modify the traits of plain old agricultural produce'has crept into Nigeria, and wants to stay put.Scientists are deploying the technology in four major fields: in agriculture to improve farming practice; in environment to deal with waste, desertification in the north and oil pollution in the south; in pharmaceuticals to develop drugs and innovative ways of delivering them; and in food to improve their nutrient content.Only in food is biotechnology facing the most scepticism. This in spite of an array of promises to deliver more minerals in the most crops using innovative ways.Nearly all the major applications of biotechnology have been underway at the National Biotechnology Development Agency since its establishment in 2001.A body responsible for ensuring Nigeria gets in on the global biotech bandwagon, it also coordinates research and collaboration across a growing number of centres around the country.In recent months, it has hosted monthly open forums on biotechnology in agriculture, alongside the African Agricultural Technology Foundation based in Kenya.But public scepticism is still a headache. NABDA's establishment was government's recognition of a 'problem of scepticism and resistance to change,' says its director-general Prof Solomon Bamidele.To turn the tide of opinion on anything GM (genetic modification), it 'needs to go to the grassroots' to explain the benefits and safety in the technology, he says.It's a campaign being explained using war analogy. So far, 'the impact is basically pummelling the ground just like the air force before the ground troops,' Bamidele notes.'The ground troops will come after the biosafety bill is signed into law when we shall legally have the opportunity to go into commercialisation, and at that point the gains that will accrue to the farmers and [the researchers] will now have to come in.'The GM scareWhen all that happens, Bamidele says, 'we will be able to develop our own orphan crops'crops that are only useful to us, but may not be of world commercial value.'It's those crops'consuming plain old maize, sorghum, cassava and beans modified into super crops'that cause the most worry for safety.Since signing onto the Cartegena Protocol, which stipulates a national biosafety law to guide every work and use of microorganisms in biotechnology, Nigeria has been battling to develop a guiding legal framework, says Dr Matthew Dore, who's been involved in the effort.In addition to building capacity, strengthening relevant institutions and getting the best of international collaborations, there is also concern 'that whatever is promised is actually going to deliver,' according to Dore.He considers the fear of GM crops irrational, and it comes down to consumers having a plethora of choices to choose what to eat and what drugs to take.'Funny thing is people always talk of food safety, forgetting that many drugs that are already in use come from biotechnology.'Vaccines, for instance, come from modifying bacteria or viruses. The thought of using those same microorganisms to modify traits of food crops elicits an altogether different experience.'People have alternative to food, so they have the opportunity to talk about choosing this or that food. But when it comes to life, there's very little you can do,' he goes on.Not business as usualAgriculture is set to benefit the most, and the ministry in charge is toeing the line, considering it simply business'one from which more than 70% of the country's population earn their living.Agriculture minister Akinwumi Adesina says agriculture isn't just about food, but about business and the economy.'Regrettably, Nigeria currently has spent over N1.3 trillion in importing food, especially rice, wheat, fish and sugar,' he said at the open forum on agricultural biotechnology in November. 'We cannot continue this way.'Adesina talks about a revolution in production. 'We cannot afford to be restricted only to the traditional and conventional mode of production. We need to appropriate the different approaches and technologies that will help boost the productive capacities of our resource-poor farmers.'Tellingly, the minister said government would 'continue to take steps to implement the National Biotechnology Policy that will ultimately place Nigeria as a major player in this evolving global economy.'View from the windowAttempts to use biotechnology on sorghum, cassava and beans have reached confined field trials.The African Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) is simply sorghum modified to have low phytate state. Phytates are the compounds in which minerals like zinc and iron are bound in crops, which means less of the minerals are available to be absorbed in the body during meals.ABS with a low phytate state should be able to release more amounts of zinc and iron, according to Dr Mary Yeye, crop scientist at Ahmadu Bello University who heads the ABS breeding programme at Institute of Agricultural Research in Samaru.It also contains beta-carotene, the precursors the body requires to produce vitamin A'a mineral to fight blindness.Cowpea improved to withstand maruca pest and cassava bred to provide vitamin A and stay free from rot are also in field trials.In addition, cowpea is also been bred to be able to acquire more nitrogen using bacteria naturally present in its roots and reducing dependence on fertilisers.Researchers think farmers' expenditures on fertiliser could reduce significantly and the environment could benefit at the same.But whether they reach commercialisation'the stage at which they become publicly available'depend on when they are declared ready and safe for market. That will not happen until the Biosafety Law, still awaiting presidential assent, comes into place.Biotechnology doesn't come cheap. A survey using information from six of the world's largest biotech crop developers estimates that the cost of discovering, developing and authorising a new plant biotechnology trait introduced between 2008 and 2012 is $136 million. More than half the cost is in development.And the time from initiation of a discovery to commercial launch is estimated to be 13.1 years on average for all relevant crops.But the technology is gaining strength around the world. Last year, 48% of biotech crops grown world over was in developing countries, mainly China, India, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and 14 others.It is thought that biotech's five leading developing countries will exceed industrial countries in how much land they commit to biotech crops by 2015.In 2010, they used an additional 10.2 million hectares of land for biotech crops, an increase of 17%. By comparison, land used by industrial countries for biotech crops grew only 5%'about 3.8 million hectares.Fifteen years since commercialisation of biotech crops started in 1996, land used for biotech crops exceeded one billion hectares'equivalent to area the size of USA or China'for the first time last year.The practice and its products can't begin to claim growth by hectarage until the seeds produced from trials today reach market, which will depend on how soon the biosafety law comes into place.Proponents are convinced that the bill is close to a final push into law, but still have to battle 'people who go around the world just to stop the use of GM,' says Dore.'These people are quite vocal and because they claim to be non-profit, people think that whatever they say could be true as against government and industry. But what they say in many instances are exaggerations and not founded on any scientific basis.'He notes that advocates against GM have not provided any solutions to make the perfect food for millions facing nutritional deficiencies.Without that, you just might have to consider facing a reality with those impossibly long fingers of banana. Or a selection of pastries made from flour of sorghum or cassava produced by modifying a few genes.
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