Kenya's use of GM to save their crops

The use of genetically modified (GM) crops is underway in Kenya after a ban was reversed last month, but not everyone is so certain of GM’s role in the country.

Credit: Alliance for Science.

By: Derry Salter.

For the latest four seasons, Kenya has seen no annual rain, with fellow African counties like Ethiopia and Somalia succumbing to the same fate. 1.5 million have fled their homes in the last year to seek for food and water. 4 million people in Kenya remain starving.

Earlier last month, Kenya lifted their ban on the use of genetically modified crops after seeing the worst drought to affect the country in over 40 years. Reversing the ban was the first move to hopefully improve crop yields and the future of food security in the country.

GM was first banned in Kenya in 2012, with a scientific report concerning a close relationship between cancer in rats and GM crops providing the basis for the ruling.

Scientists celebrated the lift of the ban and many see GM crops as the answer for food security. However, food and quality experts have raised potential risks to health and the environment. Many anti-GM scientists believe that genetic modification is one step closer to “man playing God.” There are some concerns that GM can have unintended side effects that can damage the surrounding environment or the consumer.

GM crops have an increased yield and insect tolerance as well as being drought resistance, something essential in Kenya at the moment. The ‘conventional’ breeding of crops usually takes between 10 and 15 years, but GM crops have at most a five year turn around. Many have seen it as the solution to starvation in the country.

But Route to Food Initiative, a non-governmental organisation in Kenya, conducted a survey which determined that 57% of Kenyans do not welcome genetic modification.

Farmers in the area are not certain of the use of GM crops in the country, with many fearing that the food they will be able to consume will be dangerous. There are also concerns that allowing big companies into the day-to-day lives of Kenyan farmers will negatively impact the market of food and livelihood of citizens, who fear they are getting pushed out of their jobs.

Clearly, not every citizen is on board with the use of GM, but with famine rates increasing, is GM the only hope for Kenya’s future?