East African Business Week

 DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - An alliance of local and International NGOs and businesses are urging the Government regulators to resist pressure to remove safety legislation that protects farmers and consumers.
A study by the alliance, Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity, said bio-safety regulations and guidelines have been approved and (Genetical Modified crops) (GM) research has started to prepare for commercialization.
Legislators are under extreme pressure from the GM biotechnology industry and stakeholders to relax the regulations, abandon the precautionary principle, and reduce the liability of seed companies in case of harm to people, loss to farmers, or damage to the environment, the study said.
Tanzania Alliance for Biodiversity members believe that Biosafety regulations should be based on the precautionary principle and are convinced that introduction of GM crops or animals is not the right solution to fight poverty and hunger.
ActionAid Tanzania's Country Director, Ms Aida Kiangi, said, "We are one of many NGOs who have seen the fallout from this technology on small farmers and their families in other countries."
"I urge my fellow Tanzanians to beware of the serious risks before it is too late," said Ms Kiangi.
The Alliance cites evidence from the World Agriculture Report 2009.
Developed by 400 scientists and endorsed by 61 governments including Tanzania, the report is a call for governments and international agencies to redirect and increase their funding towards a revolution in agriculture that is firmly agro-ecological.
Ms Kiangi said, the core message of the report is the urgent need to move away from destructive and chemical-dependent industrial agriculture and to adopt environmental modern farming methods that champion biodiversity and benefit local communities.
The report says such techniques as genetic engineering are no solution for soaring food prices, hunger and poverty.
Kiangi said the report raises serious concerns about GM biotechnology's impact on small holders, biodiversity, deforestation, insecticide use and intellectual property rights.
It highlights Africa's limited capacity to handle risk assessment: Contamination of farmer-saved seed and threats to biodiversity in centres of origin are key concerns with respect to biotechnology and genetic engineering in particular."
The environmental risks and evidence of negative health impacts mean that SSA's ability to make informed decisions regarding biotechnology research, development, delivery and application is critical, it added
A Tanzanian cotton stakeholder, Dr Riyaz Haidey said the solution to  farmer's problems is not to establish new seeds only.
He avers there is a need to establish a  missing link between smallholder farmers and agriculture research centres.
"If farmers will plant the produced local seeds in a systematic and modern ways which work to enhance them and hence they will produce high yield output enough for our market," he said.