NASC commends agency for training legal officers on biosafety, biotechnology

The National Agricultural Seeds Council (NASC) has commended the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) for training legal practitioners on biosafety and biotechnology.

Dr Philip Ojo, Director-General NASC gave the commendation on Wednesday in Karu, Nasarawa at a two-day training workshop organised for legal practitioners in the country by NBMA.

Ojo who was represented by Mrs Ijeoma Edeh of NASC said the major outputs of agricultural biotechnology were seeds and other planting materials.

He said NASC was aware that Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton and Bt cowpea had been registered and released for commercialisation in the country while other crops were still in the process.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a Gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium, commonly used as a biological pesticide.

Ojo said that the interest of commercial farmers to obtain the seeds was increasing and there was need to train legal officers to handle legal issues on them when needed.

“This in turn will curb the faking, adulteration and wrong labelling of these products.

“There is need to upgrade the existing institutional mechanism and infrastructures through timely capacity building in line with the Cartagena protocol,’’ he noted.