A sigh of relief for organic cotton producers in Africa
In June 2020, there was great concern among organic cotton producers in Tanzania: the neighbouring country of Kenya, where the cultivation of genetically modified cotton was previously banned, opened up to the use of GMOs with the expectation of increasing cotton production.
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On 12 January 2021, the Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Adolf Mkenda, ordered the suspension of research trials on GMO seeds and the mandatory testing of all imported seeds to confirm that they are not genetically modified. To justify this decision, which made bioRe® Tanzania, its customers and bioRe® farmers breathe a sigh of relief, the Minister of Agriculture referred to the high cost of GMO seeds.
Mr John Safari, Chairman of Mviwata Arusha (Tanzanian regional farmers’ network committed to sustainable livelihoods for farmers), was of the opinion that the government should put its resources into the production and promotion of improved or locally propagated seeds. This is because available statistics show that the annual demand for seeds in Tanzania is 212,274 tonnes, but only 52,700 tonnes are available.
In the last growing season, bioRe® Tanzania was able to provide the bioRe® farmers with 280 tonnes of Tanzanian seeds for cultivation. No additional seed had to be imported to cover all the farmers’ needs.
bioRe® Tanzania Ltd. was the first organic cotton project in Tanzania, initiated back in 1994, and has been operating as a company since 2000.
