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ARTICLE: Ugandans to eat GMO potatoes in 2020

The following is an excerpt of an article in The Observer (Uganda) explaining how a new GMO potato could be available to eat in Uganda in a few years. 

Scientists have said the first batch of locally grown genetically modified potatoes will be on sale in Ugandan markets in 2020.

Dr Alex Barekye, the director of Kachwekano Zonal Agriculture Research Institute in the western district of Rubanda, said agricultural biotechnology research on potatoes is underway to create a genetically modified variety that will be resistant to diseases.

Barekye said three trials have been conducted on the Victoria potato variety and so far, tests did not find any disease yet the yield is high.

“When we look at all the products in the GMO line and look at the duration of the crop, I think potatoes will be the first GMO crop to be commercialized in Uganda. We have conducted three trials and found that the disease is not there. The yield is good and there is nothing that has changed. The Victoria that is transforming is the same as the one which is not transformed,” Dr. Barekye told The Observer in an interview, on the side-lines of the World Food day celebrations in Rubanda on October 16.

This revelation comes barely two weeks after parliament passed the National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill, in short christened the GMO bill.

Click here to read the article in The Observer