Biotech body demands GM maize licences renewal
It was emphasised in the meeting that a two-pronged strategy must be adopted – short-term measures to provide immediate relief to farmers and long-term structural changes to cope with the adverse effects of climate change. photo: file
CropLife Pakistan has emphasised that if GM maize commercialisation licences are not renewed, Pakistan will fall further behind in agricultural innovation and investment will move elsewhere.
It has further said that the real losers will be Pakistan's farmers because of being deprived of the urgently needed technology that can improve productivity, income and livelihoods.
"The approval of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Policy provides a clear basis to move forward with GM crop commercialisation, including yellow maize as an immediate-release crop," said CropLife Pakistan Executive Director Rashid Ahmed in a statement.
Ahmed recalled that Pakistan started regulatory trials for GM (genetically modified) maize in 2009, when only the Philippines had adopted the GM maize in Asia. Unfortunately, since then, countries such as China, Indonesia and Vietnam have also moved forward, while Pakistan is still waiting to commercialise the technology.
Responding to concerns about contamination risk, he said that the majority of maize grain in Pakistan was used by the poultry and animal feed industries, which were already utilising imported GM soybean and GM canola as feed ingredients. Therefore, far from posing any new risk, the GM maize grain production will enter a feed market that is already familiar with, and reliant on, GM products.
He stressed that maize seed producers in Pakistan already follow isolation-distance and quality-control protocols to maintain seed purity and similar stewardship measures can be applied for the responsible adoption of GM maize hybrids.
Pakistan earns around $350-400 million from maize exports, including grain, forage and fodder. This export value can increase if farmers adopt better maize technologies, including GM maize hybrids, that can improve crop quality and production.
Referring to the local wet millers' role in maize exports, Ahmed claimed they contribute only about less than 9% of Pakistan's total maize exports, while the remaining export share comes from other market players.
Dismissing a common myth regarding the European Union as non-GM, he called it totally misleading, saying that the EU was the second-largest importer of GM grain for food, feed and processing.
The CropLife executive director also expressed concern over recent claims regarding biosafety work on GM maize.
Some CropLife member companies were granted licences to begin GM maize trials in 2009, following which multi-year trials for insect protection and herbicide tolerance were conducted in different regions with approvals from the technical advisory committee and the National Biosafety Committee under the Pakistan Biosafety Rules and Guidelines 2005, he recalled and urged all stakeholders to rely on verified data and factual evidence.