By Seyi Babalola
The Centre for 21st Century Issues and Nigeria CSOs Network on Climate Change jointly organized a webinar focusing on Biotechnology and GMOs Application in Nigeria’s Agricultural System. The aim was to enlighten and provide a platform for sharing ideas and insights on biotechnology, aiming for impactful results.
Approximately 60 participants from civil society, academia, and government agencies engaged in the webinar.
Ms. Titilope Ngozi Akosa, the Executive Director of the Centre for 21st Century Issues and host of the webinar, emphasised the timeliness and significance of addressing Biotechnology and GMOs Application in Nigeria’s Agricultural System. This topic, she said has garnered substantial interest among various stakeholders in the country.
The four speakers at the webinar spoke extensively on the interplay of GMOs in sustainable agriculture, food security, and ethical debates, alongside Nigeria’s biotechnological contributions to food security.
Dr. Rose Gidado, Director, National Biotechnology Management Agency, who spoke first, gave indepth analysis of the topic “Overview of Biotechnology and Importance of GMOs Application for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”.
According to her, agriculture in Nigeria encounters myriad challenges, such as low productivity, pest and disease infestations, climate change impacts, and post-harvest losses. With a rising population, traditional plant improvement techniques are becoming increasingly inadequate.
She also noted some benefits of GMOs as ensuring improved crop yields, food security, pest and insect resistance, water conservation-drought tolerant, economic growth, empowerment of small holder farmers.
The second speaker, Prof.Qrisstuberg Amua, Executive Director, CEFSAR who discussed the topic “Ethical Concerns Related to Altering Natural Oragnism-Challenges/Controversies”, stressed the significance of modern biotechnology and plant genomics in identifying genes that confer resistance to pathogens, drought, or temperature, thereby enhancing disease resistance and tolerance to environmental stresses. This innovation aims to address the estimated $500 million lost in crop production annually and improve both yield and nutritional content.
However, he highlighted numerous concerns regarding GMOs, including the lack of long-term monitoring for potential effects. He raised issues such as uncertainty about the impact on food supply due to the absence of GMO labeling, ethical considerations of gene introduction across species, control of agriculture by large corporations, and consumers’ right to know about their food contents.
Prof. Victor Olumekun, Professor of Plant Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko,also addressed the Contribution of Biotechnology and GMOs to Food security in Nigeria.
According to him, biotechnological tools have greatly contributed to the production and supply of improved quality seed noting that seed production as well as other planting materials have benefited immensely from the application of biotechnology. The technology, he said, can be utilised to silence genes to improve traits in horticulture, used to target genes in phytophagous and disease causing organisms, which presents a sort of pesticide devoid of chemical.
Olumekun further added that,crop protection and improvement in Nigeria is by virtue of the environment and have advantage over the rest of the world in some crops such as Cowpea, Cassava and Cocoa.
Concluding the webinar was Ms. Joyce Brown, Director of Programmes at HOMEF, who addressed the Potential Impact of GMOs on Health and Environment in Nigeria.
She argued that GMOs cannot be considered the solution to Nigeria’s food problem, pointing out that GMO promoters fail to provide an in-depth scientific comparison between GM crops and their non-GM counterparts, revealing the false assumption of substantial equivalence due to unexpected differences found.
Instead, she advocated for addressing the root causes of Nigeria’s food security issues, including poverty, inflation, insecurity, conflicts, and gender discrimination. She recommended investing in agroecology as the real solution, emphasizing its ability to transform Nigeria’s food system by repairing ecological damage, ensuring stable and optimum productivity, enhancing biodiversity, and nutritional diversity. Furthermore, she urged increased support for smallholder farmers, who currently produce over 70% of Nigeria’s food, along with measures for climate change adaptation.