May 21, 2009

A new GM corn developed by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) could make the nightmare pest stem borer a thing of the past.

 

After three years of research and development, the corn variety is more resistant to crop pests such as the borer, which causes up to 40 percent of yield loss and resulting in Kenya's dependence on corn imports, hitting the incomes of growers and hurting food security.

 

Kari has planted the trial corn and what remains now is to test the corn for its resilience, said Kari biotechnology scientists Joel Mutisya.

 

The corn will be crossed with Kenyan varieties to boost its hardiness and adaption to Kenyan growing conditions, he added.

 

This is the first time the insect-resistant corn is planted directly in an open field in sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.

 

Though there were much controversy regarding the planting of GM crops in Kenya, local scientists said better combinations of resistance and tolerance traits could help boost corn yields among small-scale farmers, who are unlikely to invest heavily in production growth in the near future.