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August 14th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Mozambique is currently harvesting its first genetically modified maize on an experimental plot. The so-called WEMA maize was developed by the scandal-ridden transnational Monsanto. Not everybody is buying into the GMO concept. The pan-African platform Alliance for Food Sovereignty (AFSA) warns against GMO and promotes biodiversity, diversification of crops, and sustainable agriculture instead.
The maize was grown on an experimental plot at Mozambique’s Institute for Agrarian Research at Chókwè agrarian station in the southern province of Gaza. The initiative aims, according to official sources, at providing the country’s agrarian sector with drought-resistant and insect-tolerant seeds.
The first growing season, characterized by abundant rainfall where the studies are being carried out, saw 14 varieties tested. They are part of the so-called “insect resistance component”, aimed at combating one of the main factors contributing to low production among subsistence farmers and domestic producers, especially those without the financial resources to purchase insecticides and pesticides.
The second trial, later this year, will test drought resistant varieties. Drought is often responsible for the failure of maize production. The work is being conducted by the Institute for Agrarian Research (IIAM), a governmental institution responsible for the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project, which includes Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda through their respective agrarian research institutes.
“In this first phase we conducted trials to evaluate resistance to insects, which we have been monitoring from sowing time in February up to now,” Pedro Fato, a corn researcher at IIAM, is quoted as saying. “Today (Monday), we are about to start the harvesting process for preliminary analyses, which are mandatory procedure in the WEMA research process implemented by the IIAM. We will look at the yield and assess to what extent the insect resistance gene works under Mozambican conditions,” he explained.
Mozambican Agrarian Research Institute director general, Olga Fafetine, said that the goal was that “in the end the country has maize seed genetically modified in order to favour the desired characteristics, both for the pest resistance component and drought tolerance”. Testing genetically modified maize from the United States is part of a WEMA agricultural research project to develop new varieties for drought tolerance and insect resistance.
Mozambique already consumes genetically modified products imported from countries such as Brazil and South Africa, without any negative impact on human health or the environment, according to the national authorities linked to biosafety.
The drought-resistant WEMA maize was developed by Monsanto. On its website, Monsanto claims that WEMA could feed an additional 21 million people. “What all farmers want is to produce more with less,” said Brandon Mitchener, Monsanto public affairs head in Europe, the Mideast and Africa. “They have a finite amount of land, they have a finite amount of resources, and they want to get the maximum yield from their land with the seed and the water and the manpower they have to farm that land.”
Monsanto already grows trial crops of genetically modified cotton, sugar cane, tomatoes and bananas in eight African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda. South African farmers can buy Monsanto’s GM corn and cotton seeds, and sow them on their fields. More than half of the corn planted there is the GM variety.
However, Millon Belay, coordinator of the pan-African platform Alliance for Food Sovereignty (AFSA) warned earlier that genetically modified plants are no solution in the fight against hunger. Instead, the AFSA promotes biodiversity and ecological land management in Africa and fights against the use of GMO seeds. “Every time a crisis comes, the international community thinks that’s the solution,” Belay said. But the problem is not the seeds, it’s the soil, he said, adding that if you enrich the soil in a natural way then productivity will follow. “It’s like focusing on the mother, not only on the child: If you feed the mother, the child will be healthy,” he said.
In September 2013 the Council of Ministers of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) approved controversial new seed trade regulations. According to the rules, only standardized, certified seeds may be sold among the 19 member states. The regulation has been criticized for playing into the hands of transnational corporations while “killing off” any local initiative.
The seeds are patented and must guarantee consistent results over a long period of time – ruling out further use of traditional seeds. Small farmers could no longer jointly collect seeds and sell the unpatented variety. In other words – farmers reap the benefit of dependence on transnational corporations. The agreement would also pave the way for major agricultural companies that have GMO seeds on offer. The COMESA members are free to decide, however, whether they want to introduce GM seeds.
Millon Belay warned, in 2014, that “Ownership would be transferred to companies, and that would actually mean the life of the people would be controlled by few interest groups and big companies – like Monsanto”. Worldwide, three companies are responsible for more than 50 percent of the sale of seeds: Monsanto, Syngenta from Switzerland and DuPont, another US giant. Monsanto is one of the most influential, aggressive, and scandal-ridden enterprises on the global agricultural market. Monsanto seeds in India, for example, led to failed harvests and mass suicides of farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed. At the 2013 African Union (AU) summit citizens groups demanded banning genetically modified seeds throughout the bloc.
CH/L – nsnbc 14.08.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/14/mozambique-is-harvesting-first-batch-of-controversial-monsanto-wema-gmo-maize/
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