FG denies presence of GMO foods in Nigeria

Federal government yesterday denied the presence of Genetically Modified Organism, GMO foods in Nigeria, allaying the fears of positive effects of using atomic energy to ensure food security and availability in the country.
It, however, expressed its ready to partner with the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA to boost food production, particularly through the training staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for capacity building.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, stated these while receiving a delegation from the IAEA led by its Deputy Director-General, Dr. Kwaku Anings in Abuja.
Adesina said: “We must never be afraid of atomic technology in food production. We want to raise productivity, good health and environmental sustainability. We must not listen to those who want to create fear in the minds of people on things they should not be scared about with half-baked knowledge.
“We must not be afraid of science. We can use science to make our food safe and for the issue of food security. We must be aware that technology is the only way we can open up opportunities and we have to understand the risks and put good regulations in place to reduce those risks.
“The fact remains that we have nothing in this country called GMO. People confuse modern day science to GMOs. People say hybrid maize is from GMO, but is from conventional maize.
“Our rice, wheat, cassava varieties are not GMOs. It is important we don’t confuse issues because we don’t have GMOs in Nigeria, but we use modern technology and will continue to use modern technology”, he stressed.
The minister assured the delegate of the ministry’s commitment to the earlier signed agreement on technical cooperation, which was from 2012-2017.
Earlier, the Head of IAEA’s delegation, Dr. Kwaku Aning, said the agency was not into GMO food production but to fast track the yield of crops as it had done in countries like Tanzania, Vietnam and Kenya.
“We don’t the same thing with those into GM food we speed up evolution and we don’t change the method. We change to survive but the same genetic formation.
“We speed up the evolution of the crop maybe which would have taken 50 years we produce other specie of the crop that will be drought and pest resistant.
“We have developed species that are cold water resistant. In Vietnam and Bangladesh they are using rice that is developed in our laboratory and is thriving in salt water”. And the potential of this technology is very large,” Aning explained.