Why Kenya's move to adopt GM crops hangs in the balance

It ended a grueling 10-year wait for scientists who had lobbied the government incessantly to reconsider the decision made in 2012 to outlaw the cultivation of GM crops.

That decision, which some labeled as knee-jerk and emotional, followed research published by French molecular biologist Gilles-Eric Seralini in September 2012.

Liver damage

The research, published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, was christened 'Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize'.

Seralini claimed in the research paper that rats fed Roundup-resistant GM maize alone, genetically modified maize with Roundup, or Roundup for two years had a higher percentage of tumours and kidney and liver damage than normal controls, according to an article in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information.

It was widely disputed and was, consequently, retracted on November 28, 2013, due to strong criticism from the scientific community about the way the study was conducted.

But even as scientists insisted that the research was "severely flawed on methodological and ethical grounds", fears of the cancerous effects of genetically modified crops persisted.

That November, two months after the controversial publication, then President Mwai Kibaki banned GM foods after The Ministry of Public Health, through the minister Beth Mugo, raised safety concerns.

Kenya Medical Research Institute had raised alarm on the potential cancerous effects of consumption of genetically modified crops following the Seralini publication.

Lobbying started, with scientists making a case for animal feeds where food products were still heavily contested. Nothing gave in.

In June 2022, at the height of political campaigns ahead of the August elections, the government allowed 26 companies to import yellow maize which was 99.1 per cent non-GM.

In a Kenya Gazette notice exempting duty on imported raw materials used to manufacture animal and chicken feed, then National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani backtracked on an earlier notice indicating that the government would only allow 100 per cent non-GM yellow maize into the country.

"The companies...may import the specified animal feed raw materials in quantities set out in the subsequent columns for use in the manufacture of animal and chicken feed," Yatani said.

But that was hard to come by in the world markets, with many countries dependent on GM yellow maize for manufacturing of animal feed.

White maize

Producers of livestock feed in Kenya continued making protests, claiming the white maize that Kenya produced, which was barely enough for human consumption, was now being shared between man and beast.

An average of 40 million bags annually struggled to feed humans but was the same grain that was needed by milling companies to make animal feeds. A desperate Association of Kenya Feed Manufacturers (Akefema) mid this year called for swift government intervention to help boost feed production and save livestock from starvation.

Richard Oduor, a professor of molecular and cell biology and director for research support and dissemination at Kenyatta University, said Kenya's indecision on GMOs was a blot on its agricultural and socio-economic success. "We did very well to allow BT cotton (GM) to go through processes of research, confined field trials and now open cultivation.

"It is good the government is now listening because that was a result of negotiations between scientists and stakeholders," he said.

"Some of the ingredients required to develop animal feeds are 90 per cent to 100 per cent genetically modified. It is important for the government to appreciate that we need agricultural biotechnology for many other things, it is the next frontier."

A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an animal, plant or microbe whose genetic makeup has been influenced using genetic engineering techniques.

Genes, made up of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), a set of instructions that determine cell growth, division and development, can be altered. In conventional breeding, genes from two organisms mix, creating an organism that carries the characteristics of the two parent organisms.

However, GMOs are manufactured in a more targeted way where in a lab, genes can be inserted into the nucleus of cells of the organisms that need the modification to pass certain characteristics aimed at making the new organism 'better' than the original one.

The modified cell will grow and divide, with the resulting new cells adopting the specialised functions as contained in the inserted gene.

All of the organism's cells in the regenerated plant contain that new gene.

Even as battles abound on the suitability of GM crops, authorities had decided on the importation and use of some of these products.

There were plenty of trials going on and several farmers are already aware of the potential of GM crops.

The National Biosafety Authority (NBA) had approved some projects for contained use trials (research) that include bacterial-wilt-disease-resistant banana, insect-resistant pigeon pea, stress-tolerant cassava, and nematode-resistant and virus-resistant yam.

Other trials involve trypanosome resistance model studies on mice, trypanosome resistance in cows and improved vaccines against livestock infections.

Most of the confined-use trials are being carried out at various centres of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute.

But Seralini's research had percolated into the depths of policy-making machines and many countries were still grappling with the possible outcomes of loosening their ban on importation.

The decision by the Ruto government to lift the ban, according to a dispatch from the Cabinet, was reached following the recommendation of the Taskforce to Review Matters Relating to Genetically Modified Foods and Food Safety, and in fidelity with the guidelines of the National Biosafety Authority on all applicable international treaties including the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB).

According to scientists in the biotechnological field, this was a huge win as GM crops are made to be pest, disease and drought-resistant.

Silver bullet

The crops also grow faster and are made of superior quality.

Prof Oduor said GMOs are not a silver bullet but a complementary measure to ensure food security.

"There is no non-GM insulin, yet people use it without complaining. Many solutions to many conditions are out of genetic modification. Is it more fashionable to die out of hunger than to fall back on, or because one fears the use of GM foods?"

In lifting the ban, Kenya joined Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Malawi, E-swatini and South Africa as countries with the freedom to cultivate and use GM products.

Recently, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria announced that the State would allow the importation of duty-free genetically modified maize in renewed efforts to curb inflation and to arrest hunger. The announcement was met with protests by farmers who said their harvests were about to be released to the market, and also from anti-GM activists and consumers.

The High Court then temporarily suspended the importation and distribution of GMOs pending the determination of a lawsuit filed against the government.

The pendulum continues to oscillate, ever closer to the proponents of GMOs, and probably to change the future of agriculture in the country.