Genetic engineering has ‘enormous potential’ to solve environmental problems in Africa, scientists say

[S]cientists and government officials, in a series of exclusive interviews with the Alliance for Science, opined that biotechnology is one of the technologies that could help Nigeria solve some of its most pressing environmental problems.

Yerima Peter Tarfa, director of the Department for Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment, said biotechnology — if rightly applied — holds enormous potentials for environmental conservation. He described it as a platform technology that may significantly contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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[Rose Gidado, Nigeria Chapter country coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa] highlighted numerous environmental and social gains that the nation stands to make by embracing biotech in revamping its agricultural sector.

“Biotechnology can make a tremendous contribution to combating climate change by reducing the environmental impact of productive agriculture,” Gidado said. “This includes a significant reduction in pesticide use, savings on fossil fuels, decreasing CO2 emissions through no or less plowing, and conserving soil and moisture by optimizing the practice of no till through the use of crops with herbicide tolerant traits.”

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