All the struggles of the human race are geared towards one goal, which is to ensure our safety as far as what we consume in abundance are concerned.
It has become very necessary to critically access the kinds of crops we grow and the quality of food produced to feed majority of the world population.
The question to ask is: can it work in this modern dispensation where knowledge is far advanced, population has grown and the demand for human consumption is high.
Another point to note is this: can we still rely on using the limited farm lands to grow the traditional crops to feed the world over population world?
There are a lot of factors that have contributed to hunger across the world, especially in Africa and Ghana is no exception.
Among these factors include, extreme weather, food waste, gender and conflict, discrimination, and weak government and health systems, all of which play a role in keeping nutritious food out of the reach of millions of families around the world.
Climate change is said to be one of the leading causes of global hunger. Climate change has caused more frequent and intensely extreme weather events.
Gender Inequality as a factor of hunger affects women and children more than men, leading to malnourishment. In many cases, women eat last and least.
According to World Food Program USA report, about 60% of the 821 million hungry people on the planet are women and girls and that, 1 in 3 women has anemia, a diet-related illness that causes organ damage.
The report states that, in nearly two-thirds of countries, women are more likely than men to report food insecurity.
Another factor has to do with Food Waste. World Food Program USA report indicates that, nearly one-third of all the food produced globally each year is lost or wasted.
About 40% of all the food Africa’s farmers grow is said to be lost due to insects, pests and mold.
It is said that, ‘when war hits, hunger strikes harder.’ The World Food Program USA report further reveals that, conflict has pushed 158 million innocent people into alarming levels of hunger, who urgently need help.
Conflict has forced families from their homes, destroyed economies, ruined infrastructure and made food nearly impossible to find or afford and the most affected continent is Africa, despite its rich resources.
Since the introduction of GMO foods, there are individuals, NGOs and groups who have come out strongly to oppose it with various explanations.
Hunger and undernourishment are two elements of food insecurity that have plagued Africa for years.
The African region in 2022 is said to have accounted for the highest level of hunger, as described by Global Hunger Index. According to the World Health Organization, over 340 million Africans were undernourished and severely food insecure between 2014 and 2020.
On the other hand, those in favour of the GM foods, who are mostly scientists also have a view contrary to those opposing it. The scientist in the Agriculture sector and organizations such as OFAB believe that, GM food has a bigger role to play as far as finding solution to world hunger.
It is important to note that, even though a hungry man barely has a choice as regards what goes into the stomach, that does not mean he or she can eat anything without taking into consideration the health implication.
What to feed the people, what goes into the stomach, how safe it is, where the food is coming from, how to get it in abundance and how to store some for future use should be a concern to African leaders and not war or struggle for power.
Africans are indeed going through unnecessary hunger whilst the continent has a vast and rich agricultural lands to cultivate crops, especially cash crops in abundance, to feed the people and export the excess to end foreign exchange.
Africa should not be static but rather, explore through new technologies that would bring development and benefits to the people, particularly for their survival.
A hungry man or woman cannot work towards ensuring productivity for his/her nation. It is time all African leaders come together and tap the inventions of the western world, especially their technologies in the Agricultural sector to solve the unnecessary hunger on the continent.
Those opposed to GM foods have been arguing for not being safe. They point to market manipulation and also, its sustainability as far as the issue of seeds for replanting is concerned. But the question is: Is GM helping the Western world to combat hunger on their continents, have people died from consuming GM foods in that part of the world or have people developed health issues from consuming GM foods?
One of the opposing groups of GMO is Food Suvoriegnty of Ghana. They are of the view that the debate on GMO only focused on health and the environment without looking at its socio-economic impacts.
To the Group, the socio-economic ramifications of the imposition of GMOs alone, ought to be enough to ban its use in Ghana and Africa in general.
Food Sovereignty Ghana believes that the intrusions of GMOs into Ghana’s economy and that of Africa, is likely to increase poverty rather than diminish it by increasing the penetration of transnational corporations into Ghana thus, decreasing profit margins for small local farmers. How true is FSG’s claims? Have the Western or those African countries that have embraced the GM technology experienced any ramifications?
According to FSG, Agriculture in Africa as a whole and Ghana in particular, cannot afford an economy designed for the benefit of external interest at the expense of Ghanaians and Africa.
Are we saying African leaders don’t read before signing whatever agreements they enter into?
The Group has been campaigning against GMOs on the grounds that protecting Ghana’s genetic heritage from bio-piracy, demanding that any PVP Law in Ghana must protect Ghana from bio-piracy.
From the Scientific point of view, GM technology has resulted in increased food production, protected the environment with less use of pesticides and weedicides as well as increased farmers’ income in several countries where they are planted.
They argued that, since the introduction of GM technology, both GM crops and conventionally bred seeds or landraces have been under cultivation in countries that have adopted them with no reports of loss of biodiversity in those countries.
With changing climatic conditions and increasing human populations, biotechnology innovations seem to be critically important to continued progress in providing food, nutrition and income security to humankind in the decades ahead to combat hunger.
The scientist were of the view that, there is an urgency to combine biotechnology and plant breeding tools to produce crops with high grain yield, resistance to pest and disease, tolerant of drought or salinity and with high nutritional value. This brilliant ideas are all aiming towards solving the challenges of hunger and would be of great help to the African continent.
The PBR cowpea is said to have been developed to provide genetic resistance to Maruca pod borer damage and thereby increase the protein based diets of many poor households.
It is said that, to increase the range of options for PBR cowpea to farmers, scientists are working at incorporating the Bt gene into many more improved cowpea varieties that have been released by the breeding programmes of research institutes and universities in Ghana.
To avert the development of resistance by legume pod borer to PBR (or Bt) cowpea in Ghana, work is also ongoing to incorporate a second Bt gene into the already developed transgenic cowpea materials. In this way, farmers can continue to benefit from growing this crop under minimum insecticide use.
The Scientist believe that, genetically modified (GM) crops could resolve low agricultural productivity and generate food insecurity on the continent.
GM technology is said to increase yield, develope disease-resistant crops, and create varieties that can tolerate drought.
It is said that, GM technology is already contributing to global food security. A report by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications credits GM technology for the global production of 330 million tonnes of soybean and 595 million tonnes of maize over the past 25 years. The adoption of GM technology among cotton producing households in India reduced food insecurity by 15%-20% between 2004 and 2008.
Furthermore, Research into the value gained from planting GM crops has shown that 65% of the gain came from higher yield and production and 35% from lower costs.
Farmers in developing countries have enjoyed over half of the global value gain of US$186.1 billion since the mid-1990s. In 2019, Brazil, Argentina, India, Paraguay and China were among the 10 countries that planted the most GM crops in the world.
It is also said that, GM technology also offers higher nutrient content in crops. For example, a trial of sweet potato bio-fortified with pro-vitamin A succeeded in Mozambique and the product was accepted by young children. This potentially improves child health.
GM crops showed environmental benefits by reducing greenhouse gases and pesticide use in developed countries.
Based on the above mentioned information provided by the scientist, one can deduce that the African continent can combat the rampant hunger its people suffer by embracing the GM technology, which has been proved to be safe with numerous advantages.
GM foods, according to scientist, are just as safe as non-GMO foods and are safe to grow and eat by livestock and humans. If that is the case, then what are the African leaders waiting for to embrace the GM technology to fight hunger on the continent?
