The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has reiterated the commitment of farmers to adopt biotechnology as means of contributing to food security of the country and wealth creation.
The Vice President of AFAN, Chief Daniel Okafor stated this while refuting a report credited to AFAN which suggests that farmers rejected the newly launch transgenic maize variety called TELA.
Okafor who is also the National President, Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN), said Nigerian farmers cannot shy away from a technology that is capable of increasing agricultural yield.
He acknowledged that Nigeria is currently faced with food insecurity amid growing population, hence drastic measures are needed to meet local food demand.
“Farmers are ready to adopt technologies that will improve their yield and give them maximum outputs. We cannot shy away from the fact that we need improvement in Agricultural seeds production.
“We are facing food crises which need urgent attention and our population is growing on daily basis”, AFAN Vice President said.
Furthermore, Okafor said that the Nigerian farmers had already gone extra mile to work with relevant government agencies like the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) to ascertain the safety of GM seeds in Nigeria and the answers they got were satisfactory.
“To ensure farmers, consumers and soil safety we have done many enquiries from relevant agencies including National Biosafety Management Agency on Biotechnology seeds which we were clearly informed and affirmed by Nigeria breeders that the biotechnology seeds now in Nigeria are breed here in Nigeria by professionals and who have proved that all the seeds produced through this biotechnology is safe for human consumption and have no harmful effects to the soil.
“We urge the general public to disregard any information from fake people parading themselves as AFAN in whatever disguise. We the farmers leaders cannot accept any technology blindly without proper investigation”, Okafor added.
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