NEWS FROM AFRICA

1. New website - Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity
2. Biotech industry allies eager to get Biosafety Bill through in Nigeria
3. "Genetically modified seed factory opened" in South Africa

EXCERPT (item 2): Environmental Rights Action (ERA), a Nigerian advocacy group, said the urgency to pass the [biosafety] bill may stem from other motives.

"Nigerians are yet to understand and adequately contribute to the bill," an ERA spokesperson said. "We suggest it is stopped in its tracks. The eagerness to get the bill passed is coming from biotech industry allies in this country.

"ERA is not against biotechnology as a whole but against a system unequivocal in its conviction to foist alien and unverified technologies on our farmers, and the nation as a whole, without checks."

He said the public hearing on the bill, organised by the Joint Committee on Science and Technology and Agriculture of the House of Representatives in 2009, allocated little time for protesters to voice their opinions - compared with the time offered to proponents.
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1. New website - Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity

The Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity, "an alliance of civil society and private sector organizations concerned with the conservation of agricultural biodiversity for livelihood security and food sovereignty", has launched a new website - http://envaya.org/TABIO

- And a Facebook page: http://j.mp/k4JB7R
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2. Nigeria: Biosafety Bill May Fail, Say Scientists
Emeka Johnkingsley
SciDev.Net (London)
27 April 2011
http://bit.ly/ldElfl

Abuja ”” Supporters of genetically modified (GM) crop technology fear that their four-year effort to get a biosafety bill enacted in Nigeria may have been in vain if the country's upper house fails to pass it before its tenure ends next month (29 May).

The 2007 bill, passed by the country's lower chamber last July, is with the Senate. It is one of more than 400 bills introduced to the National Assembly between 2007 and 2010 that were highlighted by the Nigerian Bar Association last December as needing passage before 29 May.

Stakeholders are concerned that, since Nigeria - which is in the midst of elections - has a poor culture of continuity between governments, they may have to start again, delaying plans to move from confined trials of biotechnology products to commercialisation.

National biosafety bills provide a framework to ensure that the development, and use, of GM organisms and products do not negatively affect plant, animal and human health; agricultural systems; or the environment.
With these standards in place, multinational biotechnology companies could do business in Nigeria, said Bamidele Solomon, director-general of the National Biotechnology Development Agency, a promoter of the bill.

"Research and development grants and opportunities, which in the past had been inaccessible because of a lack of enabling facilities, would be easily available," he said.

Mohammed Ishiyaku, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Research involved in a cowpea biotechnology project, said that if the bill failed to pass it would demoralise many scientists.

His project uses GM cowpeas to fight insect damage and, it is hoped, increase farmers' yields by 40 per cent.

"All of us are enthusiastically looking forward to this bill," he told SciDev.Net. "We will then be able to conclude the steps required before the cowpea can proceed to farmers."

Daniel Aba, a sorghum breeder at Ahmadu Bello University is trying to develop a variety that contains vitamin A, iron and zinc. "If the biosafety bill is not in place, it means that the research will remain within research centres," he said.

Ibrahim Abubakar, president of the Agricultural Society of Nigeria, said: "We cannot make any significant progress without the enabling law, especially now that there is some pessimism about the use of biotechnology."

But Environmental Rights Action (ERA), a Nigerian advocacy group, said the urgency to pass the bill may stem from other motives.

"Nigerians are yet to understand and adequately contribute to the bill," an ERA spokesperson said. "We suggest it is stopped in its tracks.

"The eagerness to get the bill passed is coming from biotech industry allies in this country.

"ERA is not against biotechnology as a whole but against a system unequivocal in its conviction to foist alien and unverified technologies on our farmers, and the nation as a whole, without checks."

He said the public hearing on the bill, organised by the Joint Committee on Science and Technology and Agriculture of the House of Representatives in 2009, allocated little time for protesters to voice their opinions - compared with the time offered to proponents.
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3. Genetically modified seed factory opened
Monsanto opens what is believed to be Africa's largest technologically advanced maize seed processing plant.
HOPEWELL RADEBE
Published: 2011/04/28
http://bit.ly/kz7lR2

GENETICALLY modified seed producer Monsanto has opened what is believed to be Africa's largest technologically advanced maize seed processing plant, in Lichtenburg in the North West.

The plant, which is due to produce seeds to be exported largely to the rest of Africa and other countries abroad, signals SA's growing stature in the genetically modified market as both producer and exporter. SA is considered Africa's top genetically modified foods producer, having been among the first countries on the continent to take up research and production of the seeds.

The Lichtenburg plant's opening comes barely a month after North West Premier Thandi Modise promised a provincial growth and development strategy conference in Mmabatho she would create an environment for business to invest in, and speed up job creation.

Monsanto in SA exports about 300000 10kg bags of genetically modified seeds, with 35000 kernels each, to Europe, the Philippines and Egypt.

Kobus Lindeque, MD of Monsanto for sub-Sahara Africa, said at the plant's opening ceremony last weekend that the facility, built at a cost of R150m, was meant "to provide farmers with the best quality genetic seed" such as maize.

"Ten years ago, the average maize yield in SA was just over two tons per hectare. Today, the average yield is more than four tons, thanks to the genetically modified technology," he said.

The plant covers 220m sq and can store about 140000 seed bags of 21kg each. It will be in full production from next month. It has a full-time staff of 30 and will create 300 seasonal jobs at harvest time, between June and September.

The plant comprises the latest grain drying and laboratory research technology. It also boasts of a laboratory for a variety of scientific tests, including eight levels of DNA tests for the correct traits, seed purity and germination vigour. The drying facility can handle 320 tons of wet cobs a day.

"This facility at Lichtenburg will make a massive impact on the future of agriculture," said Mr Lindeque.

Monsanto has plans to establish a similar plant in Zambia.

Mr Lindeque said Monsanto's investment in seed modification research and technology had ensured there was food for everybody in SA and a large part of Africa.

Steve Galane, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, welcomed the investment, saying it would boost the economy of Lichtenburg and surrounding towns.

However, "genetically modified seeds in SA are still an adventure and therefore regulated to ensure that exports are based on the licence acquired from and monitored by the department, because not every country in Africa is as yet open to genetically modified seeds".