The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) has called upon the government to prioritize addressing critical challenges within Ghana’s agricultural sector instead of advocating for the commercialization of genetically modified products(GMO).
This appeal follows the recent authorization of 14 new genetically modified products by the Ghana National Biosafety Authority (NBA), comprising eight maize and six soybean varieties.
Edward Kareweh, GAWU’s General Secretary, expressed his disapproval of the government’s neglect of essential interventions aimed at improving the agricultural sector in an interview with Citi News.
Why don’t we encourage organic agriculture which has more quality and better nutritional value than GMO? And again, apart from that, if you take Ghana, what are our agricultural challenges? From production to distribution, what are our agricultural challenges? Today, as a country, our agricultural challenge is it about lack of GMO seeds in this country which is why we are not getting enough food.?
“Is it the reason why there is low output in this country when they are not looking at the inputs that we need as farmers, when they are not looking at water availability, our irrigation system has not improved, when they are not looking at the effect of galamsey on agriculture? You know, these are the massive challenges that have bedevilled the agricultural sector in this country for years.”
Edward Kareweh also emphasized logistical hurdles, including insufficient road infrastructure, which result in food spoilage due to delays in transportation. He stressed the importance of adopting a holistic strategy to tackle these issues, rather than solely advocating for the promotion of GMOs.
Credit: CitiNewsroom
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