By Favour Eribo

Public Health experts and food sovereignty activists have called on the federal government to halt the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into the Nigerian food system as their use deprive Nigerians the right to safe food for better life and better future according to the day’s theme.

This call was made during an online event organized by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) on the occasion of 2024 World Food Day to highlight the implications of modern agricultural biotechnology on the rights of consumers, farmers and of environment, as well as other implications on the food system.

In a statement, HOMEF Media and Communications Lead, Kome Odhomor quoted Public Health Expert and HOMEF’s Director of Programme, Joyce Brown as saying that the theme of the World Food Day was so apt and urged the Federal Government to critically review its decisions regarding the use of GMOs in the food system through the human rights lens.

Additionally, Brown noted that majority of the Nigerian population rejects GMOs due to their economic, environment and health implications; and the government’s continued approval of permits for these products outrightly tramps on the rights of the people.

Speaking further on the issue of rights, the Deputy Director at Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Barrister Mariann Bassey-Orovwuje, noted that “our socio-economic system doesn’t support the right of consumers to choose as labeling is not effective and consumers can’t tell which products are genetically modified or not by their physical characteristics. Our markets are not designed in ways to differentiate between organic foods and GMOs.”

“Another key rights issue is the fact that farmers have to depend on the biotechnology seed companies season after season for seeds as productivity of GM seeds reduce after the first generation. This undermines the culture of seed saving and sharing among local farmers.” Orovwuje added.

On the right to information, Dr Segun Adebayo, Deputy Director of the Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research, highlighted that the processes of GMOs approval in Nigeria is flawed. 

He added: “It is not sufficient to announce notification of applications on the website of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) - which many people do not know exists, in their office or in two national dailies. There is no risk assessment report/documents on the NBMA website indicating that proper due diligence is done before these products are released into the environment” The composition of the board of the board of the NBMA - with the presence of key promoters of GMOs including the National Biotechnology Development and Research Agency - and other flaws in the biosafety regulatory system in Nigeria necessitate an urgent review of the NBMA Act. 

Dr. Ifeanyi Casmir, a Molecular Biologist also noted that GMOs directly disrupt the rights of peoples to a safe environment which we depend on for food. “Studies have revealed that GMOs designed to pest resistance, increase the dependence on synthetic pesticides which destroy non-target organisms including pollinators and soil living organisms, leading to loss of biodiversity and soil degradation. This has severe implications on food productivity, he added”

Dr Casmir also noted: “the Cry Proteins/toxins produced by the GM crops designed to be pesticides including the TELA Maize, Bt Cowpea and Cotton, disturb rhizospheric and soil eubacterial communities. Furthermore, Bt crops are produced using antibiotic markers which are implicated in increasing cases of antibiotics resistance.”

Speaking on the sustainable, just and healthy alternatives for the food system, Lovelyn Ejim, a farmer and women farmer group leader urged the Nigerian Government to focus on Agroecology which uses ecosystem principles in the management of agriculture systems thereby assuring optimum and sustain-able food productivity while addressing social and economic barriers in food production. 

She stressed on the need to support the set up of markets for organic products and to focus on achieving food sovereignty through increasing support for smallholder farmers.