LAHORE: In a late development ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, organisers quietly removed all GMO maize varieties from the agenda of Variety Evaluation Committee meeting.
The decision came after serious concerns were raised over procedural violations and the fact that commercialisation of GMO maize remains banned in the country.
According to insiders, the move followed pressure from stakeholders who questioned how decade-old cases with outdated data were being pushed through afresh.
The federal Variety Evaluation Committee (VEC) has been set up to evaluate, test and review new crop strains and plant varieties to recommend them for official release and national registration, ensuring that only high-yielding, resilient and true-to-type seed varieties reach farmers.
“The pro-GMO lobby looked in quite a hurry to get these varieties approved by VEC,” an insider familiar with the process observed.
The draft working paper earlier listed 21 multinational GMO maize hybrids out of 48 maize varieties for consideration. These cases trace back to National Uniform Yield Trials as far as 2011. They have remained in the system for more than 13 years without being enlisted due to various issues.
Commenting on the latest development, stakeholders say the removal restores confidence in the process. For years, local breeders have complained that old foreign entries were kept on life support while new Pakistani varieties struggled to get space.
