Nairobi, Kenya
October 21, 2008
Source:
Africa Science
News Service
by Venter mwongera
The Insect Resistant Maize for
Africa (IRMA), project that began in 1999 is to table their
results on Bt maize experimental findings involving phases 1 and
2 at a meeting to be held in Nairobi on October 28-30.
The meeting will then give the way forward particularly on
expanding the experiment to other countries.
The crucial issue for discussion would be how to avoid repeating
the same procedures should the Bt maize tried in Kenya be taken
across the borders to other countries in the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA.
At an earlier meeting held in July, scientists from COMESA
region agreed to harmonise research regimes so as to avoid this
happening.
According to a source from the
International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), who together with Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute (KARI),
Syngenta Foundation
for Sustainable Agriculture and the
Rockefeller Foundation
own the IRMA, scientists have conducted numerous ‘open
quarantine’ field trials to test best options.
The Bt maize seeds are being tested to resist both the field
insect pests namely the stem borers, and post-harvest pests like
the weevils and large green borers.
They have been planted in a series of confined field trials at
KARI station in Kiboko. So far the Bt maize has given scientists
positive results.
The project was launched in 1999 with a primary goal of fighting
poverty by increasing maize production and food security through
development of improved maize varieties that have high resistant
to insects like stem borers.
The project is aimed at producing maize that is adapted to
various Kenyan agro-ecological zones and is resistant to key
insect pests, primarily stem borers.
According to CIMMYT, about 400,000 tonnes of maize grown in
Kenya is lost to stem borers each year and almost the same
amount of maize is imported annually.
The transgenic maize, if adopted will stop farmers from losing
about 60% of their maize yield and add more income since there
will be less importations and the Bt maize yields highly. |
|
