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TELA Maize and addressing the concerns over GM foods 13 Jan 2025

The recently launched TELA maize has generated a new round of discussion about the production of Genetically Modified (GM) foods. The entire innovation behind modifying the genes of some crops – to enable them deliver greater value such as higher yield, resistance to devastating pests and diseases, and drought tolerance among other benefits – has continued to generate debates.

In the current discussion, some experts, including the Executive Director of the Centre for Food Safety and Agricultural Research, Prof. Qrisstuberg Amua, have raised concerns on the negative health implications of GM crops, like promoting cancers and disruption of hormonal and endocrine systems. Although there is no sufficient scientific data to confidently state that the consumption of GM foods can trigger the onset of life-threatening disease conditions, including cancers, this possibility should not be totally eliminated without evidence. The main reason for this concern is the transgenic nature of GM crops, which involves introducing genes from other organisms, for instance bacteria, into a completely different organism, in this case plant.

In response to the possibility of GM foods posing health challenges, the National Biosafety Management Agency assured Nigerians that proper risk assessment and analysis to ensure the safety of humans and the environment were carried out before the TELA maize variety was approved. Agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC), some universities and research institutes as well individual professionals were engaged to ensure thorough scrutiny of the modified variety before approval for commercialisation.

But there’s more to be done. GM foods are still relatively new, which means that despite the approval and launching, concerned agencies must continue to monitor and evaluate GM crops and their consumption to provide long-term evaluation reports of these crops on both human health and the environment. We should have publicly available, population-based data to expressly show that there are no challenges posed by GM foods to human health when compared to conventional crops. This is the best way to allay the fears of the majority opposing GM crops.

Another area of concern for many people is the need to constantly purchase GM seeds from foreign producers, leading to Nigerian food producers being at the mercy of foreign seed companies. It is feared that such foreign companies might later on start to control how food is produced in the country.

To clarify this point, the TELA Maize Project is led by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) – an African-led, technology-transfer organisation that makes practical technology solutions available to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The AATF is based in Kenya and is supported by several international organisations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project builds on decades of excellent breeding works and is currently being implemented in seven countries, namely Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, to put an end to the destruction of up to 20 million metric tons of maize in different parts of Africa annually by fall armyworms.

But the GM varieties are not entirely foreign. They must first be evaluated locally to select the few that can adapt to the climatic and environmental conditions of its new location or region and ensure they can yield impressive outputs. According to Enoobong Udo, a Senior Research Supervisor in the Maize Breeding Unit at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria, the breeders of TELA maize introduced the fall armyworm-resistant gene into drought tolerant varieties with good agronomic traits already developed in Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project and then inserted the gene of interest, which is their own innovation into the genome of the already existing hybrids. In other words, the AATF only added the fall armyworm-tolerant gene to specifically tackle the highly destructive insect pest.

In an attempt to solve the issue of sourcing GM seeds from outside Nigeria, the idea of the country supporting and financing the development of gene-editing technology to locally produce genetically improved seeds surfaced. Of course, there is a need for the government to provide more funding to boost research in this area but there’s a critical challenge that must first be addressed before committing fully to developing GM seeds. This challenge is the risk of the loss of biodiversity, which tends to accompany the cultivation of GM seeds. Once the cultivation of GM crops begins, it becomes difficult to continue to cultivate conventional seeds.

For instance, if farmer ‘A’ cultivates TELA maize on his/her plantation, and farmer ‘B’ who is a few miles away cultivates conventional maize, which is termed organic, cross pollination – the deposition of pollen grains from one plant to the stigma of another plant by bees,  butterflies, wasps, moths, birds, etc. – and wind pollination can occur between the crops grown by both farmers. When this happens over a period of time, the seeds from farmer ‘B’s farm take up some of the genes of farmer ‘A’s plants and if this situation occurs in different parts of the country, it may eventually result in the loss of conventional or organic varieties. To prevent this, organic farmers will have to take extra measures to avoid cross pollination from GM crops. These extra measures might result in higher costs of producing and consuming conventional crops.

As much as possible, farmers and consumers should not be denied their desire to make a choice – between GM crops or conventional hybrid crops. More importantly, the Nigerian government and concerned institutions should manage the decisions for GM crops to ensure that a reversion to conventional seeds remains possible, if necessary. The major advantage of TELA maize over locally developed hybrid varieties is its resistance to fall armyworm. The cob size and yield are not significantly different from some of the hybrids being developed indigenously with high ability to tolerate drought, according to Ms. Udo.

The claim that GM seeds cannot be re-planted is serious. It has been used to support the argument that foreign seed developers are deliberately aiming at continuous patronage. But this may not be scientifically true. GM seeds are hybrid seeds just like conventionally developed hybrids, which means that they are produced from the crossing of two pure lines of diverse species to produce progeny, which exhibit the desired characteristics. This phenomenon is called heterosis. When seeds from hybrids plants are re-planted, they will germinate but produce plants with less vigour, lower yields, and reduced quality. Therefore, saving the seeds from hybrid plants, whether GM or conventional hybrid, to produce a new crop is greatly discouraged. The undesirable recessive traits that were silenced by the heterozygous state (having inherited different versions (alleles) of a genomic marker from each biological parent) of the first generation might become dominant if hybrids seeds are re-planted. Low yield, inability to resist pest and disease attack, inability to thrive in drought, etc. make such attempt a complete waste of resources and time.

Without doubt, conventional breeding can also produce improved varieties, but it is not as precise and quick as the GMO technology in tackling some of the challenges of producing crops in the face of climate change. Conventional breeding can be tedious, involving various stages that can take about three to four years or more before the desired hybrid can be obtained. But some requirements and regulatory framework must be enforced for the cultivation of GM seeds. It is also very essential for government and concerned agencies to create room for farmers and consumers who wish to continue to cultivate or consume conventional crops by taking steps to prevent the possible contamination of such crops by GM crops.

Mojisola Karigidi, PhD, a Financial Nigeria Columnist, is a Nigerian biochemist and the founder and product developer at Moepelorse Bio Resources. She is also a Global Innovation Through Science and Technology (GIST) awardee, and an Aspen New Voices fellow.