Nigeria: Information on activities on cassava production

Open Letter to Nigerian Environment Minister: Request for information on activities on cassava production in Nigeria
24 May 2006

Hon Minister of Environment
Abuja, FCT
Nigeria

Dear Hon Minister,

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION on ACTIVITIES ON CASSAVA PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA

We are writing to you in recognition of the fact that your ministry is the National Focal Point on Biosafety in Nigeria. We are encouraged to write because the policy stance of Nigeria on biosafety issues is in consonance with the tenets of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to which Nigeria is a Party. One of the primary elements of that Protocol that is universally valuable is the Precautionary Principle. We also note that our national as well as international biosafety instruments place a premium on access to information and public participation in decision making processes on biosafety matters.

We also note that your ministry is the primary recipient of all applications for imports, exports, domestic use, including placing on the market, intentional introduction into the environment, field trials, contained use, transit, pharmaceuticals of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or products made of or derived from such organisms.

We have noted with ken interest the massive focus on cassava in recent times as a cash crop of choice. Cassava indeed has very wide applications in food, feed, pharmaceuticals and other industrial processes. Recently the NNPC spoke of possibility of producing bio-fuel (ethanol[1]) from cassava. For this reason the Federal Government is investing huge sums of money and in her Cassava Enterprise Development Project (CEPD) is financially supported in this quest by the USAID and Shell Petroleum Development Company among others. WE also note the increasing investment in these efforts by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC).

Cassava is a major food source for not only our people but for over 600 million people living in the tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is adaptable to even harsh soil and weather conditions and is key to food security in our country and region. It is a crop whose tubers and leaves have been known and used by our peoples as very nutritious for food and livestock feeds. Every part of cassava is useful. The leaves and roots are eaten and the stems are the planting materials.

We realise that one of the major challenges to propagation of this crop has been the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) that primarily attacks the leaves of the plant. It is known that some already available varieties of the plant are resistant to the disease and indeed that there are over 40 such varieties in Nigeria today.

We are aware that for about a decade now, there have been ongoing efforts at the production of cassava genetically modified to resist CMD. And some other efforts have been made towards producing cassava with giant sized tubers. Others are concerned with the cyanogens content, the storage potential, the mosaic virus, and the increase of its yield starch. Some of such efforts have been conducted in foreign laboratories, but no country has dared so far to move GM cassava from the laboratory to commercial release into the environment.

We alarmed by reports reaching us that some organisations and agencies, including the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), have submitted applications for the introduction of GMO cassava into the Nigerian environment. We request that you kindly confirm the veracity of these reports.

It is our considered opinion that Nigeria, nay Africa, does not need GMO cassava and there are many reasons for this. The major reasons include the fact that as at now there is still inadequate knowledge about the impacts on health and the environment. Further more, once GMO cassava is introduced into our environment their spread will be impossible to control on account of our cultural practices in sharing seeds and cuttings and also because it is virtually impossible to recall living organisms once they are released into the environment. GMO cassavas will directly threaten our food sovereignty and erode our right to choose to eat foods that are non-GMO. In this case, even labelling of cassava products, sold in the open and on our roadsides, will be an impossible proposition. GMO cassava if introduced will not only threaten our right to choose, it will expose our peoples to unknown health challenges. In a world that is generally wary of GMOs, Nigeria will be shooting herself in the foot if GMO cassava is introduced.

Nigeria is undoubtedly the number one producer of cassava in the world. We attained that feat without GMO cassava and can keep improving on that record with right economic support to our farmers in a right political atmosphere.

We appreciate your patience in reading this letter, honorable minister. Our requests are few and simple:

1 Have applications been indeed submitted to your ministry or to any other relevant government agency for the testing/trials (contained or otherwise), risk assessment and/or introduction of GMO cassava?
2 Who are the persons, organisations or agencies who have made these applications?
3 Have there been any approvals?
4 Is GMO cassava being cultivated already in Nigeria?
5 Are there applications for any other kind of GMO (for example cowpeas) in Nigeria?
6 Is the public informed and engaged on any of these applications as required by our Biosafety Guidelines in the absence of a National Biosafety Law?

We, Nigeria farmers, local peoples and many more will be interested in your response to our letter, so kindly spare a moment and offer us the much needed information.

Yours sincerely

Nnimmo Bassey
Executive Director
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria

Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/ Friends of the Earth, Nigeria,
214 Uselu-Lagos Road, P.O.Box 10577, Ugbowo, Benin City, Nigeria
Tel/Fax: +234-52-602680. Cell: +234 803 727 4395 . eFax: +1 309 4161666
website: www.eraction.org
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT ...DEMOCRATISING DEVELOPMENT