Zimbabwe: Imported exotic Malaysian seed varieties may pose threat
Agriculture experts have voiced concern over plans to import seed varieties from
Malaysia to address the critical shortage of farm inputs in Zimbabwe.
They warn that the Malaysian seed may be unsuitable for Zimbabwe's climate.
Reports that President Robert Mugabe had secured a wide range of agricultural
inputs, including various Malaysian crop seed varieties, for importation into
the mostly arid climate of Zimbabwe have also prompted fears that the untested
varieties will be fast-tracked into the local environment, where they could
either fail to adapt, destroy local crop varieties, or cross with them to
produce 'superweeds' or 'superpests' that could develop resistance to local
pesticides and herbicides.
Edward Mkhosi, a former provincial planning officer with the Agriculture
Rural Development Authority (ARDA) confirmed that there were indeed dangers in
the importation of Malaysian seed varities into Zimbabwe, due to the big
variation in the climatic conditions of the two countries.
"Zimbabwe is an arid country whose climatic conditions can only be
compared to those in Australia, if one wants to venture that far into the east.
Malaysia has a typical moonsoon climate, characterised by hot, wet conditions.
Crossing varieties that thrive in such a climate with local varieties would be
tantamount to converting our country into a huge laboratory for breeding
superweeds which no local herbicide or pesticide can control," he said.
"That can even pose a threat to the plant and animal life in the whole
of Southern Africa ... so anyone who thinks of importing varieties from any
different climatic conditions should carry out intensive and exhaustive tests
for possible threats to local crop seed varieties, pests, diseases, alterations
to soil characteristsics and general effects on the wider environment,"
noted Mkhosi.
A specialist with a government agricultural research centre said Zimbabwean
maize seed varieties had never been crossed, or placed in conditions where they
could co-exist with varieties from outside the savanna climatic environment.
"Our seed varieties have only been crossbred with what we have locally.
The mass importation of moonsoon climate varieties poses the danger of wiping
out our local varieties and remaining with uncontrollable superweeds. Besides
threatening radical and undesirable changes to the local biodiversity, there is
a possiblity of a string of failed agriculutural seasons and the perpetuation of
starvation and poverty, should these varieties fail to adapt. So, there is no
question about the need for pre-planting tests to see how those varieties behave
in our environment, so that farmers can be given the necessary advice for the
crop's management - if it is suitable at all," said the specialist, who did
not wish to be identified.
A senior official with the Plant Protection and Research Department of the
Agriculture Research and Extension Services (AREX) said the government had not
approached the department about conducting tests on the Malaysian crop
varieties.
"As far as we are concerned, the government has not [given] any
indication [of] the possibility of importing Malaysian seeds. But if that were
to happen, under normal circumstances officials from this department would be
sent to Malaysia to test the varieties selected for export into Zimbabwe, to
determine their suitability to our conditions.
"Testing is mandatory, and there is no question about its
necessity," said the official, who refused to be named.
Efforts to get a comment from lands, agriculture and rural resettlement
minister Joseph Made were unsuccessful.
Government announced last month that Mugabe had secured a wide range of
agricultural machinery and inputs for this year's crop farming season, but did
not say if the seed varieties to be imported had been tested for suitability to
Zimbabwe's climate.
News of the pending importation of seed from Malaysia has also invoked
memories of the far east country's involvement in the failed date palm venture
at the height of the 1992 drought.
Under the project Malaysia was to supply date palms to the Mwenezi
Development Trust, a consortium of farmers in the semi-arid area of Masvingo
province.
Despite the expense incurred in land preparation and transport
infrastructure, the project failed to take off as it turned out that date palms
were not suited to the Zimbabwean climate.
The country is divided into five agro-ecological regions, with varying and
seasonal weather patterns. The most productive are regions one and two - the
eastern highlands and the northeastern part of the country, which generally
experience good rains between November and February, and crops such as tobacco
are farmed intensively. However, these regions are also dry for most of the
year, hence the need for irrigation.
Agro-ecological regions three, four and five - the central, southern and
western areas of the country, which account for the largest area of Zimbabweans
soil - are characterised by dry conditions and might be most inhospitable to
Malaysian varieties.
Any large-scale crop-farming ventures include early-maturing,
drought-resistant varieties.
Commenting on the possibility of Malaysian crop varieties succeeding in the
seasonally wet parts of Zimbabwe, Mkhosi said: "Malaysian varieties cannot
survive, even in the so-called wet areas of the country, because of the short
seasons, [and variance in] weather patterns. Any change of climate in the
lifespan of any crop will ultimately affect productivity."
"So, for a country facing acute food shortages, it would still be a
dangerous gamble to have those seeds approved for tests in regions one and two,
since it is so clear that they simply cannot survive for a day in the other
regions," Mkhosi concluded.
More information:
This article courtesy of IRIN may not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. Copyright (c) UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003.
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