adminpresent need to come up with new ways of boosting our food production methods.
One of the reasons proffered for the sudden increase in beef prices is the palpable decrease in the national herd, which has subsequently lead to a discernible slump in beef supplies and the resultant shortages.
The cattle industry is saddled by various other challenges that include shortage of vaccines and frequent outbreaks of diseases such as anthrax and foot and mouth. The unavailability of restocking capital has also encumbered spirited efforts to boost the national herd as it has become a Herculean task for farmers to access loans from banks.
All these challenges have also been compounded by changes in the climate that have seen rainfall patterns becoming sporadic and thus inadequate to sufficiently water the grazing fields.
Notwithstanding this shortage in beef, it is also disheartening to note that Zimbabwe is saddled by more challenges in crop production. The current shift in agricultural seasons has seen most farmers failing to adequately plan for their farming activities and has also seen their crops being hit by prolonged dry spells. Such shifts have negatively impacted on overall crop yields as farmers would plant their crops either too early or too late leading to the premature deaths of their crops.
All these agricultural challenges have further exacerbated the perennial food shortages in the country as it is estimated that about 1,4 million Zimbabweans are currently in dire need of food aid.
Furthermore, statisticians have placed the country’s population growth rate at around 4,31 percent thus further raising the spectre of a notable increase in people who need food aid in the future.
These permutations inadvertently highlight the inadequacy of the current conventional farming methods as they have dismally failed to adequately cater for the growing needs of our people. This is also irrefutably vouched for by the indisputable fact that the country has continually imported grain and other foodstuffs from South Africa and other neighbouring countries to supplement its depleted food reserves.
It is only logical therefore that we search for a better way of effectively boosting our food production methods. We must search for a method that fully addresses the biological and climatic challenges that have hamstrung the current farming methods. Such a method exists in the mould of genetic engineering. The question is could genetically engineered crops and livestock be the panacea to the perennial food shortages in Zimbabwe? Genetically engineered methods are systematically designed to boost food production by harnessing beneficial plant and animal traits that will be incorporated into new breeds of crops and livestock that can resist any climatic or environmental challenges.
It has been proven that among other things the method results in high agricultural yields at low costs of production. This is achieved by eliminating the use of expensive pesticides and herbicides as genetically modified organisms are systematically engineered to resist diseases. In a way, new breeds of cattle that are immune to foot and mouth and other disease could be developed thus safeguarding our national herd and beef supplies.
More so, the maturation period of crops and livestock could also be phenomenally reduced resulting in shorter and cheaper production cycles. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could also be tailor made to suit our shifting climatic conditions. This will allow our crops and livestock to withstand the vagaries of weather such as drought thus guaranteeing better yields for the farmer and adequate food supplies for the country.
Crops produced through genetic engineering are much cheaper than those produced through conventional methods. This will invariably translate to greater affordability and accessibility of basic food to many people and thus stem the malignant food shortages.
Although there are unverified fears about the consumption of GMOs, it should be noted that their use is nothing new to our everyday life. Most people are oblivious of the fact that some of the vital medicines we are taking today are genetically engineered. The most common of all genetically engineered medicines is the life saving insulin without which all diabetic patients would face certain death.
Other common medicines that are genetically engineered are vaccines. No one can challenge the efficacy of vaccines as they have proved to be a definite lifeline to all of us. Vaccines are intermittently administered to all of us during our childhood years to fend off the six killer diseases and other lurking ailments. Without vaccines, human beings could have been wiped out by such virulent diseases as Tetanus, Polio, Diphtheria, Measles, Tuberculosis, and Whooping cough.
Besides consuming these GMOs in our medicines, we are also currently feeding on them through food imports from South Africa. These genetically engineered foodstuffs have flooded our markets due to our present incapacitated position to meet our total food requirements. Unfortunately, these cheap imports are threatening the viability of local industries that rely on costly non-genetic operational methods.
Such trade discrepancies also point to the poignant need for the country to adopt genetic engineering so as to level the competition between local products and their foreign equivalents. Inasmuch as the foregoing arguments are in favour of the adoption of genetic engineering we must not lose sight of the glaring safety and health concerns being raised against the use of GMOs.
Although current research has proved otherwise, there are rising concerns that the use of GMOs would in the long run result in negative health and environmental repercussions. However, it is worth reemphasising that present tests have so far detected no negative effects related to the use of GMOs. Nonetheless, I feel that together with all developing nations, we should feel unsettled by the use of ‘terminator’ genes in GMO seeds.
These genes will render the harvested grains infertile for reuse as seeds in the next farming season. It means the farmer had to purchase new seeds each season. This will spell doom to our poor rural farmers who have become accustomed to continually use their harvested grains as seed for the next season.
On a grand scale, the use of terminator genes gives immeasurable power to GMO seed producers, who will unilaterally decide on the cost of the seed and its availability. Unfortunately these seed producers are domiciled in imperial countries who will definitely abuse this dispensation to arm twist developing nations into dancing to their hegemonic tunes.
Developing nations do not have the wherewithal and technology to produce GMO seeds and as such will become hugely dependent on developed nations for their food security. This will indisputably expose them to all kinds of crafty and manipulative expansionist schemes. As a result, we should be wary about this distasteful possibility and thus retain our traditional farming methods alongside these genetically modified methods as a strategy to safeguard against imperial machinations. Faced with the increasing food shortages and the whimsical climatic challenges, and also being guided by the fact that GMOs could be engineered to address these challenges, it could be argued that adopting genetic engineering could be the panacea to addressing our agricultural challenges.
Online Reporter