Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

56 AATF Annual Report 2012
OFAB’s activity implementation and coordination during the year. The
Forum also kicked off a netmapping exercise in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
The exercise identified key audiences and their biotech information needs
and yielded useful data that will be used by the chapters to strengthen
their biotechnology outreach strategies at the country level. Each of the
other chapters will hold a similar exercise in 2013.
OFAB Kenya focused its discussions on continued efforts in enhancing
the understanding of biotechnology in general and providing a forum
for discussions on adverse developments affecting the biotech uptake
in the country, with a view of having them reviewed. The chapter, for
example, hosted Dr Willy Tonui, the National Biosafety Authority’s
Chief Executive Officer and Mrs Paloma Fernandes, the Cereal Millers
Association’s Executive Officer, to discuss the implications of the stringent
GMO labelling regulation that was gazetted by the government in August
2012 and provide for appropriate remedial measures. The chapter also
hosted a session to discuss the Seralini report that linked GMOs with
cancer. This report contributed significantly to the ban on the importation
of GMO grains into the country by the Cabinet in November 2012. The
chapter also provided members of parliament with factual information on
the safety of biotechnology products, which was effectively used by one
of the MPs to seek clarification from the Minister of Public Health on the
ban. During the same period, the chapter produced a policy brief on the
safety of GMOs that was disseminated to policy makers and legislators.
Participants at an OFAB meeting held in Abia state, Nigeria in 2012
Deploying agricultural technologies for farmers