By Nicky Blatch , The Herald via Checkbiotech

With a better crop yield, lower input costs and less management required, the farming of genetically modified (GM) maize is being encouraged among emerging farmers in the Eastern Cape.

But despite its benefits to farmers, GM maize – which accounted for 8,2 per cent of the country’s white maize and 24,1% of its yellow maize in the 2004-05 season – remains a hotly debated topic.

Environmental researcher Glenn Ashton said: “There are a lot of questions around the human and environmental safety of GM crops, especially white maize, the first genetically modified staple food.”

Ashton said GM maize had apparently led to severe allergies in the Philippines among the inhabitants of a small village situated next to the maize field.

“And since GM came onto the market in the US (in the last 10 years), fruit-borne illnesses have doubled,” he said.

But he said it was difficult to monitor the ill effects of GM organisms in South Africa as GM food was not required to be labelled as such under existing legislation. “Unless it can be proved that GM crops are different to regular ones, they don’t have to be labelled, yet they’re different enough to be patented,” he said. “Monsanto (who own the patents to most of South Africa’s GM organisms) says the food is perfectly safe. But if it is perfectly safe, why don’t they take responsibility and label it?”

Monsanto biotechnology regulatory manager Wally Green, who described GM maize as either stalk-borer resistant or herbicide tolerant, enabling the crops to withstand weed-killing pesticides, said GM seeds were “absolutely safe”.

Green said it was not necessary for GM food to be labelled as the department of health stipulated that mandatory labelling was only necessary if the food contained allergens or toxins. Retailers wanting “non-GMO” labelling had to prove the product was such. “GM foods are exactly the same as conventional foods, except for a small percentage of additional protein,” he said.

“We have to label our seeds as transgenic (genetically modified),” he said. Farmers buying GM maize pay a “technology fee” (for the seeds’ research and development costs), added to the price of the seeds.

South Africa is the only African country to grow GM crops. “All our neighbours (countries) are saying ‘no’ to GM crops,” said Ashton.

However, Green said other African countries had not yet followed South Africa in establishing a GMO Act, but were in the process of doing so.

According to the Act, before a GMO is approved, it must be passed by an advisory committee consisting of academics and scientists, who then recommend it to an executive council consisting of several government departments.

Dr Julian Jaftha, senior manager of the department of agriculture’s genetic resources management said: “Every product is tested in terms of its safety for human consumption and potential impact on the environment.”

He said a new product would also undergo a “field trial stage” to assess its performance under South African conditions.

Earlier this year, the department of agriculture reported that 12,5 million tons of maize were being produced a year, with only seven million tons being consumed, resulting in a surplus of maize.

Agri EC president Kerneels Pietersen said although the organisation supported several Eastern Cape projects where emerging farmers were growing GM maize, it also recommended alternative crops in light of the maize surplus, among them cotton and citrus.

Last year, the Eastern Cape produced 8,6% of the country’s entire maize crop. This year, it is estimated to produce 6,9%, according to Grain SA.

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