NMC APPLIES TO IMPORT GMO MAIZE

MBABANE – The chances of purchasing GMO mealie meal at almost all local shops continues to increase by the day.  

Hardly two months after Premier Foods filed an application to import Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) white maize into the kingdom for commercial purposes, National Maize Corporation (NMC) has also filed the same application before the Swaziland Environment Authority (SEA).

Bio-safety Registrar Bongani Nkabinde confirmed that NMC had tendered an application to import GMO white maize, mainly from South Africa, to distribute among local millers who in turn sell the maize meal to ordinary consumers.
He explained that the difference between the two applications, both currently under review, was that NMC would sell the imported GMO maize to millers, while Premier Foods applied to conduct its own milling. 

  
“As advertised, the application is currently under review,” briefly said Nkabinde before requesting to be given until tomorrow before sharing the original application with all details on how the importation process would be undertaken by NMC.

In the advert placed in the local print media, it was stated that the application for the permit was to “import for feed, feed, processing and placing on the market.”
It was mentioned that the importation was proposed to be carried out with effect from last month.

NMC Chief Executive Officer Sabelo Msibi confirmed that they had made the application. He explained that the application had been prompted by the shortage of supply of non-GMO maize.
Supply
“If we do not import GMO maize, the country would run short of maize supply,” Msibi alleged.

NMC is the sole importer of maize and determines the maize price to local millers. However, there was a relaxation of import controls due to the drought of 2016, and imported maize meal has been available in the Swaziland market. 
Some millers prefer GMO maize because these imports are cheaper than the local maize meal due to the raw material price prescribed by the National Maize Corporation (NMC).
Siobhan O’Sullivan, Group Strategy and Marketing Executive of Premier Foods, said the result being that all local millers, inclusive of Premier Swazi, were selling maize meal at a higher price than the imported maize.
She explained that in the past, no imports of maize and maize meal were allowed into Swaziland.

“The millers have engaged with both National Agricultural Marketing Board (Namboard) and the NMC to either obtain permits to import maize in order to compete with existing imports, or to reduce the local maize price, or to close the borders to maize meal imports, in an effort to enable the local millers to be more competitive in the Swaziland market,” said Sullivan. 

She further stated that towards the end of 2017, permission was granted to the millers to import a fixed quantity of maize to offer them an opportunity to compete fairly with imports and to offer consumers cheaper maize meal. 
Swaziland Consumer Forum (SWACOF) Chairman Mandla Ntshakala acknowledged that GMOs made it cheaper to produce maize meal than non-GMO maize.

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