Relax ban on genetic crops to ease food shortage, farmers urge State

What you need to know:

  • Farmers say Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) would help solve the recurrent food shortages caused by crop failure.
  • The farmers said the importation of GMO products would boost food security.

Maize farmers in the North Rift on Tuesday petitioned the government to review the ban on genetic crops.

They said that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) would help solve the recurrent food shortages caused by crop failure.

The farmers, who suffered losses after their crops were attacked by the Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease, said the importation of GMO products would boost food security.

“The introduction of genetic foods will save us the trouble of a food crisis,” said a large-scale farmer in Uasin Gishu County, Mr Wilson Kosgei.
Millers have termed the sanction on GMO products as “technical”, saying that the country might be forced to import to resolve the current maize shortage.

“We are buying maize from Uganda and Tanzania, which is insufficient. The other countries we may turn to are Malawi and South Africa,” said Cereal Millers Association chairman Diamond Lalji.

Millers have raised the cost of flour by five per cent because of the maize shortage. A two- kilogramme packet of maize flour sells at Sh115, up from Sh100 in most shops in the last two months.

“The shortage is partly caused by hoarding of maize by farmers speculating on a price increase,” Mr Lalji said by phone.

A bag of maize costs Sh3,600, up from Sh3,200, in the North Rift. The price is likely to increase further as stocks dwindle.