GM maize trials to start soon

According to a researcher at an American university, the explorer Christopher Columbus should have looked for maize rather than the spices and gold he hoped to find in the New World.

Maize was, even in those ancient times, a far more valuable commodity. According to the researcher, maize represents the ‘most remarkable plant-breeding accomplishment of all time’.

In about four months, Kenya will record its own accomplishment when it is expected to carry out the very first experimental planting of genetically enhanced maize varieties for drought tolerance says Dr James Gethi, the head of maize research at Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).

This follows the harvesting of maize planted as a mock trial under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project, in readiness for the actual planting of transgenic varieties, expected in June this year.

Mock trials

The mock trials serve as a training tool to give researchers important information on management of the experimental crop before the actual crop is planted.

The mock trials also provide a chance for researchers to fine-tune the procedures on crop environmental interactions and agronomic performance of an experimental crop, in a safe and contained manner.  

The mock trial was done at the KARI Kiboko confined field trials site near Kiboko town. Confined field trials are small, restricted experimental trials that are required before regulatory approval of genetically enhanced crops is given.

The drought tolerant high-yielding maize varieties used in the mock trial were developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) under the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa initiative.

“The DTMA varieties were developed through conventional means, and the transition from these to transgenic is expected to put Kenya ’s maize yields at par with those recorded by developed countries”, says Dr Stephen Mugo of CIMMYT.

KARI will now put in an application to the National Biosafety Committee, which will authorise the conduct of transgenic trials by the WEMA project.

“The mock gave a harvest of about ten tonnes per hectare” adds Dr James Gethi, the WEMA Kenya Leader. 

The information collected from the trials, which were done using both the dent and flint varieties of maize, included weight, yield and moisture content.

The WEMA project is led in Kenya by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, and is also being implemented in four other African countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. It is coordinated by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).

Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WEMA aims to develop African maize varieties that are drought-tolerant and that will be made available royalty-free to African small-scale farmers.

Drought

AATF will grant sub-licenses to seed companies and other bodies who will deliver the same to farmers in Africa.

Other partners in the project, which will exploit both marker-assisted breeding and biotechnology, include CIMMYT and Monsanto. 

The two organizations have granted to AATF a royalty-free license to each of the drought-tolerant maize lines to be developed in the project.

If the WEMA project goes as planned, the moderately drought-tolerant maize varieties will result in an additional two million tonnes of maize in the participating countries, meaning 14 to 21 million people would have more to eat and sell.

According to Dr Gethi of KARI, the completion of the mock trial, which began in September last year, is a major step towards increasing the country’s self-sufficiency in maize.

The mock trial planting was done under the supervision of the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service.

According to Dr Daniel Mataruka the African Agricultural Technology Foundation executive director, the WEMA project is designed as part of the solution to hunger in developing countries.

“The future may be bleak, but it is also a fact that less than 60 per cent of the world’s agricultural potential is exploited and acting now can help countries adapt,” says Dr Mataruka.