Readers' Comments

Readers' Comments

Un petit pause - A French way of saying "it is a time to pause", time to allow reactions, feedbacks and contributions from esteemed readers of this Column. This week and next week, you will be served with the opinions of some of my readers. The comments are many and diverse on the  different subjects discussed in this Column and thus, I have to edit them for reason of space and clarity. Comments on biotechnology are as controversial as expected because of the two opposing views on GMOs, however, Dr. Mohammed Makeri, a Malaysian trained food scientist sent a brilliant and interesting view that I found very educative and informative. Sadly, Dr. Makeri was involved in a road accident on the Eve of the New year along Maiduguri - Damaturu Road where  he sustained injuries. Please, join me to pray for his quick and steady recovery. Lastly, let me wish you and indeed all Nigerians a year of prosperity, God's guidance, grace and protection, amen. Happy reading.

Food Security in Nigeria: Is Biotechnology the Panacea?

Dear Prof. M. K. Othman

Thank you Professor for the well-articulated write-up. While we are at it I will like to pose some questions based upon the adoption of biotechnology as a means for producing more for less, to meet up with our populations' growth.
Sir, there is an incessant increase of cases of cancer and obesity in the western world; how does that relate to their adoption of GM foods?
Biotechnology is a delicate aspect that mistakes cannot be tolerated in the course of gene modifications and improvements. Seeming to the fact that our indigenous research institutes and research gadgets are not accorded the much needed attention and support, are we ready for a biotechnological breakthrough in food production?
Sir how possible is it for us to achieve this fate with the Senate's inability to pass the biotechnology bill into law, and centres like National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and SHESTCO are not wearing a semblance of serious research into the aforementioned field?

Abdullahi Aliyu

Dear Prof. Othman

Though advancement in the field of biotechnology is a welcome one, the move to go beyond classical/conventional biotechnology of plants and animal breeding or improvement should be made with caution. The threats posed by bulging world population are real, no doubt about that except maybe for the few who underestimate the underlying danger. But is biotechnology the tool to counter the threat? Understandably, in modern times the term Agricultural/food biotechnological products refers to food of plants or animal origin developed via genetic engineering, or mildly, modern biotechnology. In contrast to genetic modification, in classical or conventional breeding, plants or animals with desirable traits are made to mate and the resulting progeny will (most likely) bear traits that surpass that of either of the two parents alone, if I understand quite well. In the plant kingdom, for example, we have grafting, from which many high yielding tree crops evolved, with examples like mangoro mai aure. In the animal kingdom, chicken specifically, we have the Rhode Island Red, New Jersey, New Hampshire red, Plymouth Red, etc. that yields meat and egg in just 5-8 weeks. Though, not without associated demerits in either case. For example, it is well acknowledged our local poultry breeds are more robust, sturdy, resistant to local threats and the meat flavourful than, for example, ‘New-jersey’ or any of the imported breeds. The latter though have higher feed conversion efficiency and more carcass weight than the former that takes 3-4 months before attaining slaughter. The rates of conversion of grains to meat, milk, and eggs from food animals have improved significantly and broiler growth rates nearly doubled, eggs dropped per layer has multiplied several folds since the early 1960s and ‘70s. Additionally, bird health and product quality and safety have improved through applications of breeding, feeding, disease control, housing, and processing technologies.

But however, critics of modern biotechnology products, especially GMO or transgenic materials, argued that we produce sufficient foods but that much is not utilized as appropriate to benefit the geometrically growing human population: postharvest losses-poor storage, gluts, bad transportation, warehousing, etc. Another challenge is the large, growing food security gap in certain places around the world. As much as half of the food grown and harvested in underdeveloped and developing countries never gets consumed, partly because proper handling, processing, packaging, and distribution methods are lacking. Indicating that the issue is not about quantity but appropriate and judicious utilization of food resources to meet bodily requirements.

Thanks to Food Science though in making foods round the globe, from areas of surplus to areas of lack. But still, starvation and nutritional deficiencies in vitamins, minerals, protein, and calories remain prevalent in all regions of the world, including the United States, UK, Germany where another face of food insecurity is trending. Whereas our own of lack of foods could best be described as type of ‘Quantity Food Insecurity’, the version suffered by the advanced nations may be termed ‘Quality Food Insecurity.’ For example, much or almost all of corn grown in the US is fed to animal, in the developing nations, it is the opposite as we all know. Thus from the World Food Summit(1996) definition of Food Security; “Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”, it seems no one nation is food secure though at a different levels and measure.

On the other hand, proponents of Genetically Modified Food Commodities, GMO, argued that the quality of our food supply has been “damaged” by modern plant breeding and agricultural practices such as genetic manipulation of plants and animal traits. They averred that the food industry has incorrectly applied the knowledge of food science and technology to develop processed foods that result in poor dietary habits. They premised that knowledge of chemistry and the physical properties of food constituents had allowed the food industry to make processed ‘fatty’, ‘sugary’, energy dense foods (also termed ‘junk’ foods) that result in overeating, overweight, ‘over-sedentary’ ‘over-inactivity’, ‘over-excess energy’, etc, making the general population to abandon whole foods. Thus they attributed recent bad eating habits and the emergence of ‘modern disease’ conditions (such as obesity, CHD, etc) to ingestion of ‘over processed’ foods whereby much accumulate in the body. But it should remembered that foods produced through biotechnological or Organic means must also be processed to some extent before consumption.

Whichever definition of Food Security we adopt, bigger food companies must always survive and continue to make profit no matter who suffers. Recently, we have the ‘functional’, ‘nutraceutical’ or ‘designer food. Old wine in a new bottle? Advancement in technology has made us remove the micronutrients from our foods before consuming, and then later we pay money for the same nutrients added back, tagged ‘functional, nutraceutical or designer food. The vitamins, minerals and fibre (dusa) thus removed must be returned (in-cash or in-kind) because they were added by nature. In most instances the nutrients added were of synthetic origin and you aren’t so sure of what goes down your intestine. You eat whole cereal foods you save your money and save your throat. In fact, these so called designer foods are trending in the affluent countries, where they too manifests consequentially in form of bloated healthcare costs and associated social discomforts. We now have the ball rolling: Transgenic foods, Organic Foods, Junk Foods, Functional/designer Foods or Whole Foods? This is just my personal opinion, and like anybody, others could view the subject differently!!

Dr Mohammed Usman Makeri, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria