A headline in the Sunday Guardian re imported tilapia raises a number of important issues all of which relate to our lack of sophistication and appreciation for agriculture. Indeed the chickens have begun coming home to roost. Crops and livestock have historically been integrated in farming systems and there is no need for paranoia in this regard. There is, however, a clear need to understand the issues and to approach them dispassionately and attempt to develop an informed policy.Food safety policy should aim to ensure a high level of protection of human health and consumers' interests.
The collapse of the colonial primary commodity export agriculture and a flagrant disrespect for local expertise and modern domestic agricultural research and production models have left us completely exposed to unscrupulous players, eg in genetically modified organisms (GMO) seeds and crop protection materials, or as living modified organisms (LMO) whether for animal or plant production together with their products and by-products.Crop and livestock farming systems inherently carry a level of manageable risks. The fundamental issue remains the balance between protection of human health vs consumers' interests.
Both our political and public service directorates either wittingly or otherwise never appreciated the importance of domestic agriculture in development.This constrains all our development efforts which at best are dysfunctional and continue in a skewed pattern. As a direct consequence, we are extremely vulnerable with respect to both food security and food safety issues. However, it is not too late for us to begin putting the required elements in place.
I believe that we should immediately consider setting up an independent food authority entrusted with a number of key tasks.These tasks should embrace independent scientific advice on all aspects relating to food safety, operation of rapid alert systems, communications and dialogue with consumers on food safety and health issues as well as a system of networks with national/regional research agencies and scientific bodies.
Samuel B Howard
via e-mail