Commercialisation of GM cotton in Ghana by 2015 said to be over ambitious

Dr Emmanuel Chamba, plant breeder and geneticist, Savannah Agricultural Research Institute of the Council for Industrial Research (CSIR), has said the timeline of 2015 for the commercialisation of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton is over ambitious.

He said even though substantial research work is progressing sturdily, it is still early to commercialise the genetically engineered BT cotton in the country by 2015.

An African Harvest Foundation International (African harvest) statement stated that Ghana and Kenya were set to commercialise the commodity in the next two to three years.

In Ghana, the process may take less time as the regulators have domesticated data from Burkina Faso, which commercialised Bt Cotton five years ago. Ghana shares borders with Burkina Faso in the north and the two countries have similar agro-ecological zones.

Since adopting Bt cotton, production has been increasing rapidly according to the Burkina National Cotton Producers’ Union (UNPCB). The country’s output for the year to end-January 2013 was 630,000 tonnes, valued at over $1 billion.

Ghana is conducting both research and farmer confined field trials in six selected zones in the three northern regions, according to Dr Emmanuel Chamba.

He said cultural practices including the application of fertilizers had been concluded in early July, stating, “Plants are tender and yet to get to reproductive stage. So far so good, we are not handicap in any way.”

Dr Chamba said “We have just started and one year data is insufficient and inconclusive to go commercial. The pointers are good but will have to gather more research work and monitor our data.”

In Kenya, the deadline has been set for 2015 according to an update by lead researcher, Dr. Charles Waturu, who is also the Centre Director of Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) in Thika.

According to the update, Bollgard 11 cotton variety has been approved for Confined Field Trials (CFT) in Kenya.

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) would this year be making an application to the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) for open release for Bollgard II.

Africa Harvest is a member of the Bt Cotton Taskforce, which was formed in July 2010 to oversee commercialisation of Bt-Cotton. It comprises 12 members, representing stakeholders from public and private sector.

The commercialisation process entailed a three-phased plan comprising initiation, strategy and implementation.

During the five years the Taskforce has been in existence, major achievements have been made.

According to the Principal Investigator, Dr Waturu, the Taskforce has formed an outreach and stewardship secretariat and identified business partners, seed production areas, acquisition/production modalities and acreage for initial planting, drawn up tentative business models for seed multiplication, processing and distribution.

In Kenya, like in Ghana, commercialisation of Bt-cotton became critical to address the collapse of cotton production in the country, reduce pest control which make 32% of production costs and tackle the African Bollworm, which can cause 100% yield loss if un-checked, among other benefits.

South Africa. Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Benin and Senegal are some of the countries growing Bt cotton.

Source: GNA