Scientific Production, Panacea To Food Insecurity

With the UN report
putting the world population at nine billion by 2050, coupled with climatic conditions militating against farming, food shortage is imminent in the world if pragmatic efforts are not made to increase food production, experts say.
In Nigeria, with a population of more than 170 million and growing at 2.9 per cent per annum for instance, it is estimated that the nation’s population could hit 400 million by 2050, the experts note.
They have, therefore, voiced concern on how this huge population would be fed with conventional means of agriculture.
They argue that even if the conventional method of farming is optimally utilised, it will somewhat be difficult for it to solve the problem in the face of the rising population and challenges posed by drought and pest effects.
For this reason, scientists have continued to clamour for the adoption of biosciences in the modification of crops without tampering with its composition, for greater yield of nutritious foods.
According to them, crop modification also known as recombinant DNA technology, is used to genetically modify crops and animals so that they can possess traits that make them to have greater yields.
For instance, the technology can make crops resistant to drought when rainfall is minimal and resistant to pests.
They therefore waive aside the fears on the safety of the technology in food production.
Explaining it further,  a plant scientist from Oxford University, U.K.Prof. Chris Leaver, says that each plant contains DNA which defines how the plant grows and functions.
He says that plants also have the genes which determine the colour of a plant, its tolerance to drought or pest and other inhibitions to growth.
“All that is done in Genetic Modification (GM) is to identify the DNA in one plant that makes it tolerant to drought, for instance, and transfer such DNA to a new plant so that it possesses such traits as well.”
Leaver also says that these processes will undergo a lot of testing to ascertain the crops’ safety before they are released for planting to eliminate poisoning.
He explains that plant modification is not new, stressing that it began more than 1,000 years when man began to sort plants to either eat or plant based on crops’ suitable characteristics.
Supporting Leaver’s assertion, the Programme Director of B4FA, Dr Bernie Jones, says many of the crops have gone through years of modification by farmers’ discretion to cultivate only crops that possess the traits they like.
“For instance, who would have known that thousands of years ago, bananas used to have seeds or that cabbage did not grow as round as we have it now but like wide leafy vegetables?
“Over time, with the planting of bananas with less seeds, the seeds were gradually eliminated until we had the banana we now like to eat,’’ he said.
Jones says that it is difficult to eat bananas with the seeds and so farmers continue to select and plant only those with fewer seeds.
According to him, the process of genetic modification is similar to what was done thousands of years ago but this time with technological assistance.
Dr Claudia Canals of the Oxford University, UK, corroborates this view, insisting that “the reason man could eat banana now is because it does not have seeds’’.
She says cassava also has seeds which can be planted but farmers prefer to plant the stems because it grows faster since it does not have to germinate.
Ascertaining the safety of GM crops,  the Director-General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Prof. Bamidele Solomon, notes that they are “ completely safe for consumption’’.
He cites an example of the U.S. citizens who, according to him, have been eating GM foods for more than 16 years without any reported adverse effect linking the consumption of the foods.
In the explanation of the Chief Research Officer, Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR),  Dr Chukwuemeka Ekeh, “It is very safe for Nigeria to go into genetic engineering for crop modification.
“GM technology is actually not modifying a gene but taking a gene of interest from one plant to another.
“For instance, if you find a gene that can confer resistance to a particular disease in the same variety of banana, then you take that gene from where it is and then put it in your choice of the banana variety.
“Now what you have done is to enable the banana to resist that disease so that the banana is no longer susceptible to such disease.
“The banana is still the same banana, you have not modified it, so it is safe for human consumption and it is safe to the environment,’’ he asserts.
The Head of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology of the National Biotechnology Development Agency, Mrs Rose Gidado,notes that modifications of crops are already taking place in Nigeria.
She says such genetic modifications are done in confined environment as the law that will allow for field trials and use the Bio-Safety Bill, has yet to be signed.
“Nigeria is very ready to adopt biotechnology, the scientists are available; already we are undergoing confined trials of three major crops in Nigeria; sorghum, cowpea (beans) and cassava.
“Cassava is being modified for suitable nutrition with higher levels of Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc and sorghum is being modified for high levels of iron and zinc and vitamin A,’’ she explains.
According to her, GM crops are strictly regulated to ensure safety and it may take up to six or seven years to come up with commercial GM plants.
Whether or not the bill that permits GM crops is signed into law, some observers express concern over the importation of GM foods into the country.
A lecturer at the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Mr Adebayo Adeolu, therefore calls for a proactive action on such crops.
“One may wonder if Nigeria is ready to key into genetic modification of crops or it just wants to import GM food when the time is rife.
“The only restriction now is that there are no laws that will allow researches on crop-breeding to come to the open as the Bio-Safety Bill has not been signed into law’’, he says.
In spite of arguments against the GM crops, scientists agree that although genetic engineering may not be a panacea to food shortage in Africa, it has a more vital role to play in fighting against food scarcity than the conventional planting.
Nwoko writes for News Agency of Nigeria.

Ifeanyi Nwoko

Farm produce displayed at the 2013 National Agricultural Show in Tudun Wada, Nasarawa State, recently.
Photo: NAN