Advertisement

Who is telling us the truth about GMO?

A major bill that will soon take centre stage on the floor of Parliament is the Plant Breeders’ Bill (PBB). It is currently at the consideration stage.

The Bill, which was laid before the House earlier this year, was referred to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture to take a second look, following massive demonstrations and protests against it in various parts of the country. 

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Doe Adjaho, charged the committee to take into consideration suggestions, complaints and protests by sections of the public.

Various opinions

While a section of the public, especially scientists and some Parliamentarians, have assured Ghanaians that the Plant Breeders’ Bill would protect breeders, some civil societies, non-governmental organisations and faith-based organisations contend that the passage of the bill would amount to seed slavery and recolonisation. They have also linked the bill to one of the most controversial topics in recent times, the genetically modified organism (GMOs).

Activists

Those who are against it are of the view that the Plant Breeders’ Bill is designed to pre-empt the laws of Ghana and prevent farmers from freely storing seeds for subsequent seasons. The ultimate result of the Bill would be to put Ghana’s food supply into the hands of foreign corporations and, therefore, have vowed to resist any attempt by Parliament to pass the Bill.

They felt there was the need to protect farmers and people’s right to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods.

Citing Clause 23 of the Plant Breeders’ Bill, the Food Sovereignty Ghana said the Bill sought to pre-emptively knock out of order any attempt by the government to control “the production, certification and marketing of material of a variety or the importation or exportation of the material.” And the “material of a variety” in question is described in Clause 20 (6) of the Bill as “An essentially derived variety which may be obtained for example by the selection of: (a) a natural mutant or induced mutant, (b) somaclonal variant, or (c) variant individual from a plant of the initial variety, back crossing or transformation by genetic engineering.”

A renowned Pathologist and a former Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, was quoted on May 14, 2014  by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) as having urged Parliament to take a second look at the Plant Breeders’ Bill (PBB) before it was passed.

He contended that the bill, in its current form did not protect Ghanaian breeders, but rather international organisations and linked the loopholes in the bill to inadequate consultation with local stakeholders.

For its part, the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD) warned that if the Bill was passed by Parliament, multinational seed and chemical companies would take over the country’s burgeoning seed market, explaining that the bill in its current state gave the multinational companies, and in some cases their scientists, the leeway to bring their seeds into the country without the authorisation of the Republic.

Scientists & Parliamentarians

However, the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) said passing the bill would enable Ghanaian plant breeders to protect crop varieties that they developed and enjoy royalties from them, adding: “Just like other intellectual properties, such as a piece of music, a book, a computer software and an artwork, plant breeders have the right to protect crop varieties.”

The Director General of the CSIR, Dr Abdulai B. Salifu, said: “The Bill provides the legal framework for the plant breeders’ investment and efforts to be recognised with necessary royalties paid to them.” He believes that some misinformed persons are posing as anti-genetically modified crop activists on radio stations and in the print media to mislead Ghanaians.

The CSIR Director General emphasised: “The Plant Breeders’ Bill has nothing to do with genetically modified organisms (GMOs),” adding that the Biosafety Act had allowed scientists to begin confined field trials on three crops – rice, cowpea and cotton – in the Ashanti and Northern regions.

Graphic & CIKOD partnership

It is to address this and provide journalists and media practitioners with the relevant information that in January this year, the Graphic Communications Group Limited, in collaboration with the Centre for Indigenous and Organisational Development (CIKOD), organised a workshop for journalists and media practitioners to understand what the Biosafety Act was all about. 

It was an opportunity for them to interact with the former Director General of the CSIR, Prof. Walter S. Alhassan, and other activists on the way forward. After that workshop, participating journalists signed a petition to the Speaker of Parliament to hasten slowly on the passage of the Plant Breeders’ Bill.

Yesterday a follow-up workshop was held at the Graphic Training School. Officials from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture interacted with journalists and the emphasis was on the Plant Breeders’ Bill.

Need for education

GMOs and the Plants Breeders’ Bill might have some good.

The question, however, is if the bill and GMOs are that good, why are the scientists, parliamentarians and those who are for its passage not making enough effort to reach out to the media to help educate the public? After all, society is dynamic, so is culture and for that matter agriculture.

Those who are against the bill and GMO should detach emotions from reality and put the facts on the ground for the public to judge. If those against GMOs have something to tell the public, they need to do so. Confronting scientists is not the right way to go. 

On equipping the media with the relevant information, the activists are doing better, but the way they attach emotions to the education is what is defeating the purpose.

Confrontation is not the way to go in educating the public. It is not about personal interest, it should be about the interest of Ghanaians.

That is why it is important that journalists and media practitioners who have mass following are equipped with the requisite knowledge to help educate the public. The role of the Parliament is also crucial since it is the body responsible for the passage or rejection of the bill.

Writer’s Email: [email protected]

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |