Minister pushes for GMO food to avert hunger in zimbabwe

Business
  BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE   SCIENCE and Technology minister Heneri Dzinotyiweyi (pictured  right) says government must lift the ban on genetically modified (GMOs) foods insisting they have been scientifically proven to be safe for human consumption.

His call comes at a time when over 1,7 million people, mostly in the rural areas, are said to be at the verge of starvation due to hunger.

 

Dzinotyiweyi’s appeal is supported by the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, which has also called on government to lift a ban on GMOs to avert hunger amid widespread  food shortages.

 

Dzinotyiweyi, a former University of Zimbabwe Dean of Science told Standardbusiness that GMOs remained banned because there was no unanimity in government as far as their use and consumption was concerned.

 

“From a scientific angle, nobody has shown that such products are unsafe,” Dzinotyiweyi said. For us, as a developing country, to say they are unsafe would be wrong.”

 

He added: “With the way the world is going, we cannot survive on superstition. We have to respect scientific evidence and go along with it that GMOs are good and boost food production.”

 

The former UZ lecturer urged farmers and millers to confront government so that it can lift the ban of GMOs.

 

“I hope affected constituencies such as farmers and millers can confront government on this with a desire to arrive at a conclusive position, which is of interest to both the country as a whole and to themselves,” he said

 

Government banned the importation of genetically modified grain citing health and environmental reasons.