Biotech Key To Addressing Threats Of Drought, Impending Famine – FG

The National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA) has said biotechnology is more relevant than ever, especially as the government faces the dual threats of drought and impending famine.

The director-general and chief executive officer of NBRDA, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, stated this at a one-day sensitisation workshop for members of the House of Representatives Press Corps in Abuja yesterday.

Mustapha said these can be countered by turning to climate-smart agricultural solutions such as high-yielding, drought-tolerant maize, herbicide-tolerant soybeans, bacterial blight-resistant potato, pod borer-resistant (PBR) cowpea, and disease and insect-tolerant cotton.

The NBRDA boss, represented by the director of the agency’s Agriculture Biotechnology Department, Dr Rose Gidado, said those innovations have the potential to significantly improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across Nigeria.

The director general said that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their products are among Nigeria’s leading innovations in this field.

“Scientists in Nigeria have harnessed this technology to develop crops like Bt cotton, Bt maize and PBR cowpea, which have since been commercialised. These are not just scientific milestones; they are real-world solutions that transform lives, improve food systems and strengthen farmer resilience.

“However, we must also acknowledge the hurdles. In our increasingly connected world, information is a powerful currency. Social media and digital platforms have expanded access to knowledge and created new communities and networks. This connectivity has benefited many countries in the Global South, enabling data sharing, learning across borders and more strategic decision-making.

“But it has also come with a downside: the troubling rise of information disorders – namely, misinformation, disinformation and malinformation. These distortions of truth are dangerous because they lead people to make decisions based on inaccurate or false information. In the context of GMOs and biotechnology, this has contributed to public scepticism, regulatory uncertainty and slow adoption of technologies that could improve millions of lives.

“That is why this forum is so crucial. It provides a platform for evidence-based dialogue, where diverse voices can come together to ask questions, share insights and build mutual understanding around biotechnology and its place in our agricultural future.

“In a time marked by an overflow of both facts and falsehoods, the role of the media, as truth-bearers and defenders of democracy, has never been more vital. Your work goes beyond reporting. You are charged with scrutinising, analysing and contextualising the issues, especially those as consequential as food security, technology and public health, through the lens of evidence-based reporting,” he noted.

In his presentation, Professor Ishiyaku Mohammed of the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Zaria, underscored the importance of deploying biotechnology tools to address farmers’ low productivity challenges in the country.

Mohammed dispelled the misinformation against biotechnology, provoking concerns about human health—potential allergenicity, potential toxicity, and direct health effects; environmental health–genetic diversity, gene flow, and build-up of resistance in target pests; and ethical concerns (social and political).

According to him, modern biotechnology is “The process of manipulating organisms, especially their hereditary (genetic) makeup, to enhance their functionality to provide products and services for human and environmental well being.

“…Process of using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology to alter the genetic makeup of an organism. Traditionally, humans have manipulated genomes indirectly by controlling breeding and selecting offspring with desired traits.”