Nigerian farmers require no special skill for agricbiotech — OFAB Coordinator

Dr Rose Gidado, the Country Coordinator, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), says Nigerian farmers need no special skill or training in order to benefit from agricultural biotechnology.

Gidado, who is also the Deputy Director, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), said this on Wednesday while responding to questions on agricultural biotechnology by the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Abuja.

She explained that as end users of agricultural biotechnology products, farmers needed no special training or skill to become beneficiaries of agricultural biotechnology.

She said these products comprised seeds and plantlets which are the same as conventional products.

The OFAB Coordinator, Nigerian chapter, noted that decades of documented evidence demonstrated that agricultural biotechnology was a safe and beneficial technology that could contribute to both environmental and economic sustainability.

“The country as a whole is a beneficiary of agricultural biotechnology as the technology would make significant economic impact on the populace by contributing immensely to job creation.

“Other contributions also include wealth creation, eradication of hunger and malnutrition,’’ she said.

Defining agricultural biotechnology, Gidado identified it as the simple application of biotechnology to agriculture to make, modify or improve on a product for the benefit of mankind.

She also defined biotechnology to mean the use of modern scientific techniques, including genetic engineering to improve or modify plants, animals and microorganisms.

“The origin of biotechnology dates back to at least 10,000 years in prehistoric times when wild plants were domesticated and artificial selection of animal breeding was carried out,’’ she said.

Gidado further gave insights about genetically modified (GM) organisms by describing it as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) had been altered in a way that did not occur naturally.

“The technology is often called modern biotechnology or gene technology, sometimes also called recombinant DNA technology or genetic engineering.

“It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between non-related species,” she said.

According to her, such methods are used to create GM plants, which are then used to grow GM foods.

She highlighted the benefits of agriculture biotechnology to include improved crops yield, reduced vulnerability of crops to environmental stresses and increased nutritional qualities of food crops.

Others are improved taste, texture or appearance of food, reduced dependence on fertilisers, pesticides and other agrochemicals.

She also said GM food production was vital for the improvement of agricultural practices by minimising use of chemicals which includes herbicides and pesticides.

Speaking on the safety of GM foods, Gidado said GM foods had no adverse effects on human health.

“No health hazard or otherwise has been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved. (NAN)