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Environment Experts in Zambia have warned that importation of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) will eliminate indigenous crops that are more nutritious.
Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) Board Member, Emmanuel Mutamba, also said GMOs breed mechanization, which transforms small scale farmers from producers to mere laborers working in commercial farms.
According to a statement issued in Lusaka on Sunday, Mutamba, who is also Green Living Movement Executive Director has cautioned that Zambia would have all the productive means captured by multinational companies.
“The issue, around Genetically Modified Organisms has been a long debate in Zambia. I recall that Green Living Movement and other Civil Society Organizations regrouped around 2010 to push for a ‘No GMO Zambia’ for a good reason,” he said.
Mutamba said stakeholders realised a long time ago that having non GMO products for Zambia was a huge niche for a market that was looking for non GMO products and was necessary for a healthy nation.
“Research has been done that when you allow GMOs into your environment there are many uncertainties you expect,” he said.
Mutamba has stated that in the agriculture sector, GMOs came with the use of different chemicals such as herbicide glyphosate which was banned in some parts of Europe and elsewhere but would be used as weed killers in Zambia.
He has warned that the use of chemicals such as herbicide glyphosate had, according to research, been associated with cancerous diseases.
“We also want a healthy nation because we cannot develop if we have a sick population. Unfortunately, we have another section of society from the scientific world who believe that GMOs are going to enhance productivity in agriculture and increase on food security which is not true because Zambia has been able to feed itself for many years by small scale farmers,” he said.
Mutamba said 97 percent of the food in Zambia came from small scale farmers that were practicing traditional farming systems.
“But the potential for Zambia to be an important ‘sort after market’ for non GMO crops is huge. We should take advantage of that market,” he said.
Mutamba warned that Zambia would go into mono cropping if it ventured into GMOs, thereby taking away the nation’s indigenous seed.
“Zambia shall lose it’s indigenous food which is very nutritious,” he said.
Mutamba said Zambia’s indigenous crops were resistant to the effects of climate change, an area the country would do badly if it allowed GMOs importation.
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“We shall have mono crops and huge mechanized farms of which our people will become laborers instead of being producers. There are so many challenges associated with GMOs as compared with the benefits,” he said.
Mutamba worked for the government of Zambia in the Department of Meteorology for nine years as a Meteorologist.
He later joined WWF as a Civil Society Environmental Hub Coordinator.
He has sat on various boards of prominent civil society organisations in Zambia and Africa including Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity and Zambia Land Alliance.
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