The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) has urged the government to address pressing issues within Ghana’s agricultural sector rather than pushing for the commercialisation of genetically modified products.
This plea comes in response to the recent approval of 14 new genetically modified products by the Ghana National Biosafety Authority (NBA), including eight maize and six soybean variants.
Edward Kareweh, the General Secretary of GAWU, in an interview with Citi News, criticised the government’s lack of focus on vital interventions to enhance the agricultural industry.
“Why don’t we encourage organic agriculture which has more quality and better nutritional value than GMO? And again, apart from that, if you take Ghana, what are our agricultural challenges? From production to distribution, what are our agricultural challenges? Today, as a country, our agricultural challenge is it about lack of GMO seeds in this country which is why we are not getting enough food.?
“Is it the reason why there is low output in this country when they are not looking at the inputs that we need as farmers, when they are not looking at water availability, our irrigation system has not improved, when they are not looking at the effect of galamsey on agriculture? You know, these are the massive challenges that have bedevilled the agricultural sector in this country for years.”
Edward Kareweh further highlighted logistical challenges such as inadequate road infrastructure, leading to food wastage due to transportation delays. He emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach to address these challenges, rather than relying solely on the promotion of GMOs.
“The road network whereby most of our trucks when they go to the farm gates and bring the foodstuff, they get stranded and then the foods get rotten. We are not looking at that. And then thinking that by merely promoting GMOs, we will have food security in this country, is GMO going to be grown in space?”
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