July 31, 2013
NewsRescue– The dangers of GMO crops to farmers–as they get financially dependent and wrecked, compelled to buy new supplies from the globalist manufacturers; to the consumer and to the topography of the land, have been well documented.
Despite wars by environmental activists like Nnimmo Bassey and many others, Africa has become the new gold mine for GMO big corp. to market its products and gain monopoly over farmers while instilling dependence. The farmers loose their old seeds and shoots, and in most cases, the new modified variants can not be replanted either out of intentional tampering or due to patent rights, thus, once farmers use these once they are stuck on it for life and need to take big loans to keep farming. The dangers of these fake foods for human consumption and the environment have been largely documented.
Why not rather educate the mothers to eat more liver, sweet potato and carrots?
Nigeria’s minister of agriculture has been noticed to be eager to sell Nigeria off to any bidders. Big corp is known for its bribe of public officials. Recently Halliburton got hit with its largest scandals for bribery to Nigerian government officials.
Nigeria And International Partners Flag Off Dissemination Of ProVitamin ‘A’ Cassava Varieties
Godwin Atser; ModernGhana
Uyo, Nigeria–The Nigerian government and HarvestPlus have flagged off the dissemination provitamin A cassava planting materials to farmers, inspired by agricultural reforms aimed at cutting down the number of persons afflicted with vitamin A deficiency and improving food security.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akin Adesina with the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Godswill Akpabio jointly kicked off the dissemination of the cassava planting materials in the capital city of Uyo on Tuesday.
Researchers say using provitamin A cassava to tackle vitamin A deficiency is an excellent option because of the easy availability and accessibility of cassava in most rural communities.
A nutrition survey report by the Nigerian government shows that vitamin A deficiency hurts the health of about 20% of pregnant women and 30% of children below the age of 5, according to Dr Howarth Bouis, HarvestPlus Director in a speech read on his behalf today.
People afflicted by vitamin A deficiency suffer either from night blindness, stunting, low immunity or even death.
‘The World Health Organization estimates that about 250 000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight,’ said Dr Kenton Dashiell, Deputy Director General for Partnerships and Capacity Development with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Efforts by the Nigerian government to solve this malady include fortification of products such as wheat, soft drinks, flour, and sugar with vitamin A. The biofortification of cassava aims to amplify these efforts, taking vitamin A to people who may not be able to afford the cost of fortified foods.
Do Not Force-Feed Nigerians With GMOs
June 27, 2013 By Nnimmo Bassey It is with shock and extreme disappointment that we note the position of two ministers of the Federal Republic …
Nigeria Agriculture Minister Introducing GMO Seeds: A Danger to Farming and Consumers
Commonly referred to as yellow cassava, the provitamin A cassava varieties are products of decades of conventional breeding efforts by researchers at IITA in partnership with the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, with funds from HarvestPlus.
Dr Dashiell said, ‘The development of provitamin A is a big milestone and working with our partners, NRCRI and HarvestPlus, we hope to develop more nutritious crops that will enhance food security.’
HarvestPlus and partners plan to ensure that over two million farmers have access to vitamin A cassava stems for planting across the major cassava producing states in Nigeria with initial emphasis on Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Imo and Oyo States as regional hubs.
Paul Ilona, HarvestPlus Country Manager said the strategy is to distribute 300,000 bundles of stems to 100,000 households in Nigeria in 2013 alone, and support the emergence of a sustainable seed system to make stems available to all farmers in the years ahead.
Currently, more than 40,000 traceable farmers in Akwa Ibom, Abia, Anambra, Benue, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Rivers states received stems in June and July, while more states will receive stems before the end of August.