GMO ban in food-insecure Ghana would be ‘dangerous,’ deputy agriculture minister warns

[A December 7 Agriculture Manifesto Forum organized by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana] discussed the strategies in the 2020 manifestos of both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to address challenges in the agriculture value chain.

It was also characterized by a debate on the agriculture sector between the two parties moderated by Citi FM’s Umaru Sanda Amadu.

[One] participant wanted to know the government’s position on GMOs and what it was doing to stop [them] given the numerous protests by a good number of stakeholder groups against the organisms [and there] “negative impact” on the Ghanaian agriculture sector.

Making the government’s intention clear on the matter, the deputy minister [Sagre Bambagngi] averred that although there were projects supporting organic food production, the request for a ban on GMOs was dangerous for Ghana.

“There are people who think they should only eat food that is produced through the use of organic materials …. some people can afford to do that [but] there are some people who …. will starve and die before the kind of sickness you are thinking [of] will come in the long term …. Some children will suffer from malnutrition and they won’t even grow beyond five years,” he added.

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