South Africa halts 'super sorghum' study
The project aims to boost nutrient levels in sorghum, a major crop in Africa

South Africa has blocked trials of genetically modified sorghum that leaders of a multi-million-dollar project hope can boost nutrition in Africa.

Kenyan scientist Florence Wambugu, who heads the Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International, has secured US$18.6 million over five years from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new sorghum varieties with elevated levels of iron, zinc and vitamins.

She says her organisation wished to run their greenhouse trials in South Africa because of its legal guidelines and policy framework on genetically modified (GM) crops, which are so far absent in Kenya.

But last week (12 July) South Africa rejected the application to set up a laboratory and greenhouse on its soil.

According to Kenya's Sunday Nation, the South African government expressed concern that the GM sorghum could contaminate wild varieties.

Wambugu is hopeful that South African authorities will approve a second application.

She says the project was asked to increase 'biosecurity' measures aimed at containing the GM sorghum. "Once we comply, we will certainly go back and reapply to be allowed to start the project."

On the same day the sorghum project was put on hold, the Kenyan parliament overwhelmingly defeated a motion by Davies Nakitare, the member of parliament for Saboti, that sought a blanket ban on all production, consumption and sale of genetically modified foods.

The government said the country had capacity to deal with GM biosafety issues.

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RELATED RELEASE from the Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) project

Application For a Contained Greenhouse Experiment

The Africa Biofortified Sorghum (ABS) project project has become aware of different comments in the public domain regarding its application for a contained greenhouse experiment. We wish to state and clarify as follows:

1. The ABS Project has full confidence in the South African regulatory process and is committed to abiding with the requirements of the National Department of Agriculture (NDA);
2. The ABS Project - through one of nine consortium members - the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - made an application for a contained greenhouse experiment;
3. The Executive Council of the Directorate Genetic Resources Management, the South African GM regulatory body, as within their area of responsibility, has not approved the application at this time;
4. The ABS Project is engaged with the National Department of Agriculture to clarify the issues raised and provide additional information sought.

Therefore, there has been no conclusion of the granting of the permit. This project seeks to develop a more nutritious and easily digestible sorghum that contains increased levels of essential amino acids, especially lysine, increased levels of vitamins, and more available iron and zinc. A prototype, containing increased levels of the amino acid lysine, has already been successfully developed.

The project is one of 34 projects by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). It brings together scientific teams from Africa Harvest; agricultural company Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of DuPont; the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa; the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the African; Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-
Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and the Universities of Pretoria (South Africa) and California Berkeley (USA).