Made insists No to GMOs in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe will not allow the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to protect its own seed industry because right now it has developed a hybrid seed maize variety that is capable of yielding up to 18 tonnes per hectare.

Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told Parliament yesterday: “We are one of the leaders in non-GMO high yielding varieties. I can refer to maize, 727 is achieving in the laboratory, 25 metric tonnes per hectare and in the field, 18 tonnes per hectare. This is our own capability. So, I will not preside over the destruction of that capability with my knowledge.”

Made was responding to questions from Members of Parliament whether Zimbabwe was prepared to change its policy on GMOs in light of the present world trends and the fact that Zimbabweans are already consuming GMOs in products imported from countries like South Africa.

Made was emphatic that cultivation of GMOs will not be allowed in Zimbabwe to protect its citizens as well as its agricultural industry.

What Zimbabwe could do instead was to look at irrigation, inputs and the timeous delivery of inputs to farmers.

If Zimbabwe were to produce 18 hectares of maize per hectare it would just need to cultivate 125 000 hectares to feed the nation.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture Davis Marapira said this week that the government is pushing to have 1.6 million hectares under maize to produce 2.2 million hectares which implies yields of less than 1.5 tonnes per hectare.

The full question and answer debate:

POLICY ON GMOs

MR. MATANGAIDZE asked the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development to give an indication on when we can expect a shift in policy from shunning GMOs in light of:

1. global trends calling for increased flexibility on GMO cultivation;
2. the acknowledged existence of GMOs in our food chain over the years;
3. the appreciation that GMO cultivation could be the panacea to our food and security challenges.

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT (DR. MADE): Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for raising this question. I am saying that this is most appreciated and most welcome because it gives me the opportunity to really speak and say very clearly that there is no shift on the policy that we will not accept GMOs. As Government, I also want to clarify our policy that sometimes we meet the science itself in terms of it being studied. We have scientists who are studying the subject and so on, but from a content point of view, no, we will not accept the cultivation of GMO material. That is the first component and I think that the question is very clear. So, there is no cultivation of GMOs. On the acknowledgement of the existence of GMO in the food chain, of course, it is there. So, no, it does not follow doctor.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, order. Will the minister address the Chair?

DR. MADE: Yes Mr. Speaker, the appreciation that GMO cultivation could be panacea to our food security, no in the emphatic. That is a very clear no. We also have the issue of high yielding seed varieties. In actual fact, we are one of the leaders in non-GMO high yielding varieties. I can refer to maize, 727 is achieving in the laboratory, 25 metric tonnes per hectare and in the field, 18 tonnes per hectare. This is our own capability. So, I will not preside over the destruction of that capability with my knowledge. That is Seedco for those who want to know. Pioneer also has varieties that are achieving the yields.

What is critical for us is to squarely address the issues of irrigation, inputs and timeous delivery of those. So, there are other husbandry issues that constitute to the capacity and the security of producing. GMO material is only a minute component of that. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member.

MR. MADZIMURE: Minister, can you reconcile the fact that we are consuming GMO products every day? Is the policy to protect us against eating GMOs or it is because you just do not want us to use technology to produce more? If it is to protect us against GMOs, what are you doing to make sure that no GMO products come into this country?

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT (DR. MADE): It is a very important question Mr. Speaker and I clarified that;

1. yes, it is to protect you and;
2. the assertion is also that we protect our own material.

Let me just proffer one side of the logic. There are consumers worldwide that also are in the debate that they will not want GMO material and so, when we take the medium to long term approach, Zimbabwe is endowed with more agriculture land and at the end of the day, we are a small population. At the end of the day, we are actually net exporters. First, from one region of surplus within the country to a region of deficit in the country and regional and international, so we also put that. From a technological point of view, when you look at GMO material, remember, currently the major issues are plant resistant to herbicides to glyphoset material, then resistance to certain insects. So, the breeders of this material and their copyright have to constantly go to the laboratory also. So it is also a copyright issue and so when you subject yourself from a seed point of view, to one source of copy right, in the geopolitics of things, you also need to be careful from that point of view.

So, we have developed materials in Zimbabwe and we have also developed the livestock sector itself and we wish to protect that.

DR. LABODE: Hon. Made, we are all very aware that we are all eating South African food and we belong to a regional bloc that does not agree with you and everything is sifting through Zimbabwe coming in like our chicken feed. Particularly in Bulawayo, we all know that it is actually coming from South Africa. So, we are feeding our chickens with GMOs.

Right now people are growing vegetables. Look at the cabbages and look at the carrots, you can tell it is a GMO carrot. So, I think as a Government it is time we need to be decided, we cannot win this battle because we are not an island and we are not on top of the rest of the region. So, I think you really need to seriously think about us adopting the GMOs.

DR. MADE: Mr. Speaker, once more I am very grateful to the hon. Doctor. When I responded earlier on, I think I touched on a partial response. I want to emphasise that in actual fact the comments made by the Doctor further strengthens my resolve and I just want to correct one aspect. It is not just myself per se as a person, no. That would not be correct. The field of GMO has various schools of thought in terms of the content. As a Doctor, she knows very well. I have not even touched the area of allergies and so on. I am not competent but I can confidently say to her, when we are debating this subject, many others are now of a very clear view in a relationship from a health point of view, that there are certain things we need to keep on interrogating on this subject but, I now stick to my area of competence on the subject and the understanding of genetic engineering.

First of all, it occurs in nature anywhere. That is what we must all understand that this is inherent in nature but when it is speeded up in the laboratory, it is very important to note the practices and issues that are now coming up in South Africa for lack of certain securities when we handle the bio-technologies that are GMO. That is now on the subject matter itself. Unfortunately, the questions we can raise here, I can only say that the greater debate is out there but from a policy point of view, I think I have clarified to the Members of Parliament and to the public in general that for now, no. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

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