Africa’s Anti GMO news Tanzania Africa’s Second-Largest Maize Producer - Without GMOs

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https://x.com/WestAfricaWeek/status/1892635163051409744


https://westafricaweekly.com/tanzania-overtakes-nigeria-as-africas-second-largest-maize-producer-without-gmos/

Tanzania has officially surpassed Nigeria to become Africa’s second-largest maise producer. The country recorded an output of 11.7 million tonnes in the 2023/24 farming season, up from 6.4 million tonnes in 2021/22. The Ministry of Agriculture attributes this growth to key agricultural reforms.

He said that the fertiliser subsidy programme introduced in 2022/23 was a major factor. Before the subsidy, farmers used an average of 15 kilograms of fertiliser per acre – far below the 50 kilograms applied in countries like South Africa. However, fertiliser use has now increased to 24 kilograms per acre. The government aims to raise this to 50 kilograms by 2030.

Tanzania is also driving mechanisation to improve efficiency and reduce labour costs. The government has already deployed 800 tractors and power tillers. By 2030, it plans to roll out 10,000 machines to support farmers. Other interventions include free soil testing, improved seed varieties, and enhanced extension services.

The National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) has reportedly played a critical role in stabilising the maise market. Over the last two seasons, it purchased 700,000 tonnes of maise, up from 200,000 tonnes three years ago. This intervention has helped farmers secure fair prices and reduced post-harvest losses.

Tanzania’s maise is now a key commodity in regional trade. It supplies markets in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Mozambique. Business is booming at the Manzete market, one of the country’s biggest maise trading hubs. Speaking to CGTN news, traders reported higher sales and expanded export opportunities.

Tanzania achieved this growth without using genetically modified (GMO) seeds. This contrasts with Nigeria, which has pushed for GMO adoption despite public concerns over health and environmental risks. While Tanzania focused on improving natural farming methods – fertiliser access, mechanisation, and better seeds – Nigeria seems insistent on risking using genetically modified seeds.

Data from the Tanzanian agricultural ministry shows a projection of 15 million tonnes by the 2025/26 season. South Africa remains Africa’s top maise producer, with 13 to 15 million tonnes annually. However, Tanzania’s success positions it as a strong contender in Africa’s grain market.

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https://x.com/WestAfricaWeek/status/1890877829593592077

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https://westafricaweekly.com/anti-gmo-activist-segun-adebayo-calls-for-aggressive-push-back-against-promoters/

Anti-GMO Activist, Segun Adebayo Calls For Aggressive Push Back Against Promoters

Concerns over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and the questionable aim of their promoters have resurfaced after a leaked document exposed that a British nonprofit with ties to intelligence agencies has accused pan-African voices, including anti-GMO activists, of spreading “anti-Western rhetoric” in their coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The document, Adaptive Country Plan (ACP), curated by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), details CIR’s monitoring of political discussions in Nigeria. It labels critics of Western policies as “pro-Russia” or “pro-China.”

It named anti-GMO activists, Shell and Bill Gates opponents and pan-African journalists, including West Africa Weekly’s Founder, David Hundeyin, as threats.

In Nigeria, GMOs came into effect through the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) Act of 2015, heavily influenced by lobbying from Monsanto—a global biotechnology corporation known for aggressively promoting genetically modified crops.

GMOs are promoted heavily by the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), which sits on the board of the NBMA regulators.

In NBRDA, the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology is headed by Dr Rose Gidado, who doubles as the Country Director of Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB), a heavily funded foreign organisation to promote GMOs in Africa.

The controversy surrounding GMOs reached new heights in June 2024, following the launch of the Bill Gates-funded TELA GMO Maize in Nigeria. This triggered widespread concerns over food sovereignty, economic independence, and safety.

In terms of health, many Nigerians had valid fears that GMOs could cause long-term health complications such as cancer, infertility, allergies, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes and heart disease, amongst others.

In a highly contentious public debate, Dr Gidado defended the GMO initiative, controversially referring to genetically modified seeds as “edible vaccines.”

Following this claim, West Africa Weekly sent a request under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act seeking risk assessment reports and safety analyses conducted before the approval and commercialisation of GMO crops. However, the NBRDA ignored the request, violating Nigeria’s FOI Act.

Meanwhile, during an interview with Arise TV, Director General Of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, admitted that the agency (NAFDAC) has no evidence to prove that GMO foods are safe for human consumption.

Beyond health concerns, Nigerians have expressed concerns that GMO seeds could lead to losing traditional seed varieties, thereby threatening the rich heritage of local farming practices where farmers save and replant seeds from their harvest. This potential shift is perceived as fostering dependency on foreign seed companies, compromising Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in food production.

The economic implications are equally worrisome, with many Nigerians viewing the introduction of GMOs as a means for international corporations to gain control over the nation’s food supply chain. This control would disadvantage smallholder farmers, the backbone of Nigerian agriculture, by increasing the costs associated with patented seeds and herbicides, thus leading to economic subjugation.

Our food sovereignty comes from smallholder farmers, who can plant seeds and save some from their harvest and replant in the next season. GMO eradicates this because farmers will be dependent on purchasing seeds, Lagos State 2023 governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, said.

In a post on X, @pshegs, Dr Segun Adebayo, Director of the Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research and a prominent anti-GMO voice, whose name was also mentioned in the ACP document, said:

GMO is a science that first-world countries place heavy and stringent regulations on, mostly cultivating and testing in regulated spaces in confined field trials. In courts all over the world, independent health, environmentalists, food, and even security experts are raising alarms over it, due to its damning impact. Russia considers it an act of terrorism, Ecuador burnt all farms used for trials, Malawi and Angola, and the entire European Union has banned Glyphosate and the cultivation of GM Crops … We need to ensure we boot them out.”

Global Precedents: The GMO Backlash in Other Countries

Speaking further with West Africa Weekly and providing reliable sources, Dr Adebayo noted that Nigeria is not alone in its concerns over the long-term effects of GMOs. Across the world, countries that once embraced genetically modified crops have faced significant setbacks, prompting policy reversals and outright bans.

The Indian BT Cotton Story: A Case of Broken Promises

In India, Monsanto introduced BT cotton with the promise that it would resist pink bollworm infestations. However, by 2006—just four years after its release—the pink bollworm had developed resistance to the first-generation GM cotton in Western India. Monsanto responded by releasing a more expensive second-generation BT cotton, but the pests adapted to that strain within a few years.

The failure of BT cotton devastated farmers. In Andhra Pradesh, 80 per cent of BT cotton crops failed across 150,000 acres of farmland in 2014, causing over $4 million in losses. Reports link BT cotton farming to 7,992 farmer suicides between 2006 and 2011. Farmers faced rising costs due to Monsanto’s expensive patented seeds and the increased need for pesticides to combat secondary pests.

Burkina Faso: The Return to Traditional Cotton

Burkina Faso initially adopted BT cotton because of its resistance to pests and promise of higher yields. However, while production volume increased, the cotton quality declined significantly. In 2016, Burkina Faso’s cotton farmers abandoned GM crops and returned to their native cotton varieties, as the genetically modified versions proved uneconomical in the long run.

Mexico’s Bold Ban on GMO Corn

In February 2023, Mexico’s President issued a decree to phase out GMO corn imports due to food sovereignty and biodiversity loss concerns. The U.S. filed a trade complaint under the USMCA agreement, arguing that Mexico’s decision violated trade commitments. However, Mexican authorities maintained that:

The planting of transgenic maize in Mexico is a historic crime against the peoples of maize, against biodiversity and food sovereignty, against ten thousand years of indigenous and peasant agriculture that bequeathed this seed for the wellbeing of all the peoples of the world.” – From the Manifesto in Defense of Maize, October 2009

“The main purpose of these measures is to protect the rights to health and a healthy environment, native corn, the milpa, biocultural wealth, peasant communities and gastronomic heritage, as well as to ensure a nutritious, sufficient and quality diet.” — Decree establishing various actions regarding glyphosate and genetically modified corn, President of the United Mexican States, February 13, 2023.

On October 1, 2024, Mexico’s newly elected President reaffirmed the ban on GM corn, emphasising the importance of protecting heirloom seed varieties for future generations.

Even South Africa’s Supreme Court recently reversed the approval of a GMO maise variety, citing a lack of rigorous risk assessment.

Meanwhile, as Dr Adebayo posted on his X handle, it will be recalled and noted that two years ago, the U.S. accused China of illicitly acquiring U.S. agricultural intellectual property, including genetically modified (GM) seeds, raising fears about the potential weaponisation of this technology. The US-China Economic Review Commission released a report explicitly stating that China could “hack” the DNA of US GM seeds to create a blight capable of destroying U.S. crops.

As Western countries continue to view anti-GMO activists in Nigeria as threats, the question remains: Will the nation prioritise food Safety, food sovereignty and smallholder farmers, or will it fall into the cycle of corporate dependency, which further gives room to economic subjugation, foreign influence and political interference or even the weaponisation of the seeds?

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https://x.com/MissNasike/status/1828353716438646897

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GMO: Nigeria Must Preserve its Food Sovereignty Against International Conspirators - Rhodes-Vivour

Our food sovereignty comes from smallholder farmers, who can plant seeds and save some from their harvest and replant in the next season. GMO eradicates this because farmers will have to buy seeds from multinationals that are valued in dollars. With GMO seeds, export will be greatly affected as yields cannot be sold in Europe, not to mention the health risks of these seeds

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Politician and Environmentalist

https://x.com/ARISEtv/status/1870821757361217853

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Text:
SayNoToGMO

Please share this heartbreaking video with those who think Dr. NJEMANZE’s Act of Bravery was a joke. Doesn’t it all make sense now? These guys are literally on a mission to locate organic farms wherever they may be in Nigeria and destroy them and the farmers. Watch!

#SayNoToBillGatesGMO #SayNoToGMO

https://x.com/jcokechukwu/status/1804517467928084780

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https://x.com/IPrinceSaviour/status/1889079183395172808

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Text:

This is Nigeria.
We will chase you all out of this Country before you destroy it and we have nothing left for our children.
This fight against GMO officially enters the next stage.
Any complicit MDA boss will be investigated, fired, and disgraced in public, should we connect you to a bribe from Monsanto, Bayer, etc.

The youths of this Country are waking up. Look at the stage in the video below, full of youths.

We will also bring out your funding dossier, let us see where this thing is coming from.

We, the people of Nigeria reject GMOs, Glyphosate and so shall it be.

#BanGMOs
#BanGlyphosate

https://x.com/pshegs/status/1860692934326173941

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Text:

I'd like to introduce you to
@RufusEbegba
.
This individual was the pioneer DG of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) and he was responsible for approving the cultivation of GMO Cotton, Beans and the importation of GMOs into Nigeria.

According to the payment records, NBMA during this time, was paid over $20,000 in 2016, $50,000 in 2017, over $100,000 in 2018 and over $20,000 in 2019 to support GM campaigns in the country.

How can the regulators of GMO become the promoters? See the link below and the screen shot.

It's not today that there has been report of international fundings m complicit in skewing science, policy and the direction of our Country. As you can see, USAID, AGAIN.

Good evening
@icpcnigeria
.

Shebi you've seen Bill Gate's work ethics? He just acquired a fastfood brand right? Lazy good will not overcome diligent evil. Don't get tired of sharing , posting and informing others.

https://premiumtimesng.com/agriculture/agric-special-reports-and-investigations/761347-investigation-toxic-tactics-us-govt-funds-pesticide-gm-propaganda-in-nigeria.html

https://x.com/pshegs/status/1894411950060155148

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Text:
This man is up to something really really sinister. He's tired of you using Microsoft Operating System, he wants you to start eating Operating Systems and all sorts of crazy tech.

Farm grown food, home cooked meals! Bachelors, go and get married. Singles, end those dates and food from MC Donald's. Ire o!

https://x.com/pshegs/status/1894201656491086013

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Text:
This man must not be allowed near your food and health care system.
Nigerians need to know that Bill Gates was behind the appointment of our health minister, and also the MD/CEO of the Primary Health Care Agency for Nigeria.

The man's previous workplace was Bill Gates' 3rd most funded organization in Nigeria.

This thing is akin to freedom fighting. Nigeria is not for sale. We need to rescue this country from satanic entities like Bill Gates.

https://x.com/pshegs/status/1808634075433029679

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https://x.com/pshegs/status/1893959210129338741

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Text:
#1 Dr. Rose Gidado
@roxydado

#2 Dr. Rufus Ebegba
@RufusEbegba
| he was recently learning about GMO Mosquitoes. he is responsible for approving GMO Cotton, GMO Beans in Nigeria as the then DG of NBMA.

Dr. Rose is the country director of the Bill Gates sponsored
@OFABnigeria
a biotech policy and advocacy platform , saddled with promoting GMO in Nigeria, and doubles at the same time as the Deputy Director of Nigeria'a Biotech Research and Dev. Agency. (NABDA).

It's hard to know when she's OFAB or Federal Government.

Start with these two first.

https://x.com/pshegs/status/1888175457419305100

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GMO varieties contaminate natural varieties.
We have no proper labelling system or surveillance to label and give consumers the choice to buy one pangolo of natural beans or garri at any market.

Our food sovereignty and potential export markets are affected.

GMOs are linked to diseases like cancer, endocrine disruption, etc.
There is a reason organic food inherently has more value. There is a reason if you are sick, you are advised to eat organic.
#NOTOGMO

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NIGERIA’s #GMO TELA MAIZE EXPLAINED BY THE EXPERT👇🏾

Watch and share this till every Nigerian sees it. If you didn’t believe us, at least believe her - a consummate expert on this topic. What’s the word TELA as in #TELAmaize? #SayNoToGMO for your own good. Reject that evil #TelaMaize 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾🔥🔥🔥

https://x.com/jcokechukwu/status/1815577037462987135

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https://x.com/jcokechukwu/status/1824383453380383195

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https://x.com/RCSC_Tanzania/status/1895108662990917839

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