Sasa's Kitchen Against GMO - You Should Be Too

I bought some beans from my usual grocer the other day. I was excited because I had been dreaming of moin-moin and beans porridge and dodo (fried plantain). I soaked the beans for a whole day and cooked for another 6 hours but still inedible. I had to check the packet again to make sure I hadn't bought beads! 

In the end I chucked it all out and went with something I thought would work - Lentils. Part of the beans family, right? It worked very well. Follow this recipe but omit the step about peeling the beans. Serve with chicken suya and salad.

The inedible beads, sorry beans got me thinking about some "noise" being made back home in Nigeria right now about the introduction of GMO and I thought I better add my two cents to the matter.

My very good friend Patrick has written extensively about this issue here and the ever gorgeous Ify has highlighted health issues with respect to GMOs here. Please take some time to read these articles.

The minister of Agriculture has responded to all the noise, claiming that there are no GMOs in Nigeria only "biotechnical" seeds. He claims that there is a difference between biotechnology and GMOs. If you go to the Monsanto's website (the largest producers of GMOs) they proudly say they are a biotechnology company helping farmers increase their yield. And Monsanto's representatives have been seen doing "business".

I feel that even if GMOs are a good thing, we don't need them in Nigeria. We have fertile land. All we need is for the government to support and help with mechanised farming. We have so much potential and haven't exhausted all the options. For example, flood resistance seeds have been introduced in Kwara state.  It doesn't make sense to use flood resistance seeds when the cause of the flood is man made. Fix the damn dam! 

When a girl brings a guy home and introduces him to her parents, the parents investigate the guy and his family. We need to take that approach with regards to GMOs and do our homework. There has been a lot of news about GMOs around the world. Many western countries are rejecting GMOs even poor countries that have no food. There have been many suicide cases reported in India due to failing GMO seeds. We need to ask questions, investigate. We need to conduct tests and then decide with the support of the whole nation if this is the way to go.