Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) will approve performance trials for genetically-modified (GM) cotton by next month. Public feedback on an environmental impact assessment for the proposed trials at nine sites is awaited before a go-ahead can be given, chief compliance officer Margaret Njuki said recently in Nairobi.
The proposed sites are Mwea, Katumani, Kampi ya Mawe, Bura, Perkerra, Kibos, Alupe, Barwessa and Matuga, according to a Kenyan newspaper report. The transgenic cotton variety is resistant to bollworm, which lowers productivity by 50 to 90 per cent.Kenya's National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) will approve performance trials for genetically-modified (GM) cotton by next month. Public feedback on an environmental impact assessment for the proposed trials at nine sites is awaited before a go-ahead can be given, chief compliance officer Margaret Njuki said recently in Nairobi.#
Rajeev Arora, adviser on textile value chain at the Kenyan ministry of industry and trade, said a cotton task force was formed last year to ensure the implementation of a five-year roadmap. Initially, hybrids and conventional seeds will be the focus, but by 2019, the plan is to grow Bt cotton after its commercialisation, he said.
Production will take place in more than 494,210 acres in the five years, Arora added.
Cotton production last year stood at about 30,000 bales of lint against a potential of 368,000. (DS)
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