Farmers to be sensitised on need for biotechnology

Researchers specialising in biotechnology have embarked on a countrywide farmer sensitisation drive about the commercial benefits of biotechnology. 

The aim is for farmers to understand the benefits of the technology so as to demand appropriate regulation.

According to the Uganda Biotechnology and Biosafety Consortium, biotechnology refers to any technology that uses living things or parts of living things to make useful products that benefit mankind and the environment in agriculture.

The technology is also used in the production of vaccines and antibodies in the industry to make various products for health and environment management.

A ground nuts and cassava farmer from Serere district Making a presentation during the meeting. (Photo by Agnes Nantambi)

Dr Henry Wagaba, a cassava breeder from the National Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), made the explanation in a meeting of farmer leaders across the country that took place on Friday, at Fairway Hotel in Kampala.

The meeting was organised by the Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS), Uganda Biotechnology Biosafety Consortium (UBBC) and Science Foundation for Livelihoods and Development (SCIFODE) and the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO).

While sharing the benefits of the technology with farmers, Wagaba said through the technology, cassava resistant to cassava brown streak diseases have been developed.

The other crops include potatoes resistant to potato blight, bananas resistant to banana bacterial wilt, but also vitamin A-rich bananas among others. Wagaba explained that cassava brown streak disease can cause up to 100% yield loss.

And yet cassava can earn farmers an income when sold as fresh tubers, when processed into high-quality cassava flour for the pharmaceutical industry, Ethanol, food, for bakery among others.

He, however, said due to the lack of regulation of food products produced through biotechnology, researchers cannot release the said products for planting.

For farmers to benefit from the technology, there is a need for a regulation, whose Bill hasn’t yet become law since 2012. The 2012 National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill established a regulatory framework to facilitate the safe development and application of modern biotechnology.

Some of the participants of the farmers engagement meeting pose for a photo. (Photo by Agnes Nantambi)

In 2018, Parliament passed the Bill, which was renamed Genetic Engineering Regulatory Bill 2018 following recommendations by President Yoweri Museveni, who declined to ascent to the proposed law, raising 12 issues that required improvement

Concerns raised by the President include the establishment of gene banks to conserve indigenous or traditional seeds, that genetic modifications should be restricted to plants and animals, that the developer or breeder of GMO seed is responsible for any consequences arising from the GMO seed among others.

Dr Andrew Kigundu, a senior Biotechnologist, also the chairperson of the Uganda Biosafety and Biotechnology Consortium, said by training and engaging farmers, some of the issues raised by the President will be answered and this will facilitate the passing of the bill into law.