Good day, everyone, and welcome to my blog. The past three days have seen a lot of controversy about GMO seed being considered for adoption into the Nigerian agricultural system. This has brought into question how these seeds will affect the agricultural system and the food chain in the economy, with some people opposing the idea and others are against the idea of this seed being introduced fully into the country. GMO(genetically modified Organism) means crop seeds, which have been altered in a lab by chemical compounds to improve the productivity of the seeds.
The seeds, after being planted, yield more outstanding results than the seeds in their original form, and this has helped to improve productivity in farms. The GMO seeds, after being altered, have a strong resistance to pests, drought resistance and improved nutritional content within the crops. These all sound amazing, and some will say why are most people threatened by the GMO seed when it will boost the food productivity in a country with an increasing population, but there is a catch to this seed, as it has its downside.
GMO seeds can't be replanted after yielding crops because they won't germinate within the soil which is not a good thing. After all, the basic idea of farming is to grow crops, and then the seeds gotten from those crops are kept to be replanted, but that is not the case with GMO seeds. This will lead to farmers over-dependence on buying the seeds from cooperate, and we all know how things work when cooperate have a significant power in determining the production change. It won't be good if the corporation becomes the sole provider, as they can easily influence prices on the GMO seeds, which in turn can increase the cost of food production.
There are also concerns about health issues related to the GMO seeds, as some say they will cause health issues. My take on this GMO seed is simply to let the people decide their fate. There should be an indication for consumers to differentiate GMO foods from organic foods so people can choose their preferences. The truth is some of our popular foods have been altered and at this point it had to select the organic food from the altered ones because the are little difference between them, and everyday we hear people who claim or are health experts warn us of the kind of foods to consume and the kind not to consume because of the health risks to the human body.
GMO seeds are banned in some parts of Europe and the countries that are prominent in using these altered seeds are the USA, Argentina, India and Brazil. It is an unending debate on this topic whether these seeds are good or not for the economy, but my stand remains that people should choose, and most importantly, cooperate should not get the upper hand in seed supply. So guys that will be all for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a good day.