An information workshop for cotton producers on the process of returning to the cultivation of genetically modified (CGM) cotton in Burkina Faso was held in Bobo-Dioulasso on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. It was in the Rosario room Chiquette.
The general objective of this Bobo-Dioulasso workshop is to provide information on the process of returning to the cultivation of genetically modified cotton meeting production needs for commercial cultivation in Burkina Faso. During this workshop it was discussed, among other things: recalling the reasons for banning the cultivation of CGM from the 2016/2017 campaign; presentation and discussion of the AICB’s CGM needs; presentation and discussion of the status of the activities carried out by the AICB with biotechnology companies including Bayer and other partners; presentation of the situation of CGM experiments carried out by Burkina Faso Cotton Research; present and discuss the prospects for the return of the CGM to Burkina Faso.
“The actors had to talk to each other”
Jean-Pierre Guinko, Permanent Secretary of the liberalized cotton department at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Crafts, while welcoming the initiative of this workshop, ensures that the actors change to cautiously but surely to achieve a biotechnology that would allow stakeholders to be in a phase. for good cotton production in Burkina Faso. To hear him say, “the actors had to talk to each other for a safe return to the CGM. There were problems that were noted during the development of CGM until 2016. And the actors had made a courageous decision, that of stopping to be able to take the condition and the necessary treatments found to return with quality. CGM seed that allows all stakeholders, namely producers and cotton companies, to end up with a product that allows them to have good results at a commercial level but also in terms of productivity. In terms of types, research has shown the different capabilities of some CGMs that are already known and developed in some Asian countries and China. So it is these tests that are going on so that the actors can decide together on the combination that suits their wishes.
Benefits of returning to CGM
For Nikiébo N’Kambi, president of the National Union of Cotton Producers in Burkina (UNPC-B), and president of the Interprofessional Cotton Association of Burkina (AICB), “CGM cultivation has many advantages. With CGM cultivation, the treatment that was 6, 8, 10 comes down to 2. There are producers who did not even do any treatment, but they harvested cotton, which is impossible today. When the treatment subsides, we get time to do other things. From a health point of view, this helps to preserve the producers’ health, as they will be less exposed to chemicals.” But according to the latter, “right now, we have a lot of researchers who have done the work and found something. Now, it’s up to the department to choose what exactly suits her.”
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