Proper planning, not GMOs key to success: Made

DR MADE said Zimbabwe, which was recovering from acute food shortages following a scorching El Nino-induced drought that opened a window for debate on GMOs, will demystify the myth around biotechnology engineered crops.

Dr Made told The Manica Post in a wide ranging interview on Tuesday that the solution to Zimbabwe food crisis hinged on broadening and resuscitating irrigation, availing adequate inputs on time, equipping farmers with proper agronomic knowledge and trying to take into account all the ‘what ifs’ that can happen.

Dr Made said the country was headed for a bumper harvest as the irrigated crop is almost reaching maturity while the dry land is half way through.

“The crop situation as we enter the second half of the cropping season is very good.

The major of the irrigated crop is almost at mature stage, while the dry land one is half way, be it tobacco, maize, cotton or any other crop. The condition is very good, and this means that the resuscitation and development of irrigation remains a very prime activity so that we can have the summer early irrigated crop and the winter full irrigated crop,” said Dr Made.

“If we are to achieve high yields, we have to address the issue of irrigation development, availability of adequate inputs on time, exposing farmers to the right agronomic knowledge and technology; 70 to 80 percent of it is planning (proper soil fertility and water) and other factors constitute 30 percent.

“We cannot invest in expensive agriculture equipment and get poor yields; we have to improve on the supply of fertiliser. We can do everything we can, but without adequate fertiliser, we cannot achieve the desired yields.

The moment we start to resuscitate and increase areas under irrigation, the demand for fertiliser will be very high, such that we have to augment fertiliser supplies with imports.

If you resuscitate summer and winter crops, the demand will be mammoth and we have to accept reality that for the next 24 months, we will have to balance between imported and locally produced fertiliser to achieve a yield of between five to 15 tonnes per hectare,” said Dr Made.

“This season will dispel the notion that GMOs are superior to our local seed varieties.

The key to success is timing, planning and prioritising important things first. It is not the adoption of GMOs that gives you high yields. We have dispelled it. This year we have planted the long season varieties under irrigation and you can see the quality and value of the crop,” said Dr Made, as he disputed the notion that GMO varieties yield better and were often of better quality and more commercially attractive than local varieties.

There has been huge controversy over whether genetically modified grains and crops should be accepted to address biting hunger.

There are assertions that Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular, needs advanced agricultural biotechnology including GE to increase food production to feed its swelling population.

Various local and international experts have exhorted the Zimbabwe to warm up to GMOs in the face of the current maize shortages, arguing that they were more sustainable than local varieties. At present, South Africa is the only nation in the region where GE crops are allowed to be produced.

In Zimbabwe, GMOs remain banned amid concerns that they are specifically produced for feedstock and not for human consumption as chemicals involved in the production of GMO are hazardous to human life.

There have been several scientific studies that have shown GMO foodstuffs to cause dangerous effects.

However, another school of thought dispels such fears arguing that there is no evidence that GE food presents unique health hazards to either humans or animals that consume it. Agricultural expert, Mr Andrew Mwashita, is no record saying genetic engineering was capable of creating plants better resistant to weeds, pests and other diseases.

“It will result in using less herbicides and pesticides, developing crops adaptive to soil salinity and fortification of specific vitamins in food crops,” Mr Mwashita said.

“The point is that anything on the market has been rigorously assessed in at least a half- dozen countries around the world,” he added.