{"id":287947,"date":"2017-01-25T12:26:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T12:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=287947"},"modified":"2017-01-25T12:26:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T12:26:02","slug":"were-not-against-plant-breeders-bill-food-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/01\/were-not-against-plant-breeders-bill-food-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019re not against Plant Breeders Bill –\u00a0Food Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"
Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG), a civil society organization that had raised issues with the passage of the controversial Plant Breeders Bill, has explained that it was only against portions of the Bill, and not the entirety of it.<\/p>\n
The Plant Breeders Bill, which was brought to Parliament for approval, triggered a massive debate in the country in 2014, with some groups including the Food Sovereignty Ghana insisting that it will undermine and damage traditional farming practices.<\/p>\n
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They also argued that approving the Bill will unnecessarily threaten\u00a0public health, water resources, air and the natural environment.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Wednesday, Communications Director of FSG, Edwin Kweku Andoh Baffour, clarified that they are instead against the Bill in its current form.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not against hybrid, we are not against science, but we are against the genetic manipulation of organisms \u2013when we take genes from one organism and artificially incorporate them into the gene of another. \u00a0We have never said the Plant Breeders Bill is about GMO. What we have said is that, the Plant Breeders Bill is going to open the way for multinational seed companies to monopolize our seeds. We are not against the Plant Breeders Bill, we are against the Plant Breeders Bill in its current form and we have clearly stated where we have a problem,\u201d Mr. Baffour noted.<\/p>\n Mr. Baffour made the comment on the back of a petition his group sent to Parliament\u2019s Appointment Committee to compel the House to reject Agric Minister nominee, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, who they claim supports the introduction of Genetically Modified Foods in Ghana.<\/p>\n