Authorities in Cuba have said that they have no plans to introduce the use of transgenic seeds to the Cuban market, Havana Times reports.
Although the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture is known to have carried out tests with the transgenic crops in the past, the island’s authorities have no plans to resume them.
“The policy of the country thus far is to not negotiate with anyone to produce transgenic seeds”, said Manuel Rodríguez, the CEO of the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture company that produces seeds.
Cuba continues to suffer from poor agricultural output and underdeveloped farm infrastructure, importing the majority of the food consumed, as well as the necessary farm inputs.
Genetically modified crops are a topic of intense debate that has sparked considerable controversy over the years. Advocates of GM crops say that the controversy is often fueled largely by a lack of understanding and vast amounts of misinformation. Then there are also potential challenges relating to burgeoning global population. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that we will need to grow 70 percent more food by 2050.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Cuban Ministry of Agriculture comes out against introducing transgenic seeds to the Cuban market