THE ministers of Agriculture and Science have clashed over the contentious use of Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs).
Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made has ruled out the lifting of a ban on GMOs even though they could help ensure food sufficiency.
There has been pressure on government to embrace GMO technology in the face of food shortages spawned by erratic rains.
Made said government would, instead, concentrate on making available fertilizer, seeds, irrigation and other essential farm inputs to boost food production rather than use cheaper but unsustainable means that have a detrimental impact on the environment.He said while GMOs were cheaper to produce, they were costly in the long-term as they contaminated the environment and harmed biodiversity.
A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one specie and inserting them into another in an attempt to obtain a desired trait or characteristic, hence they are also known as transgenic organisms.
But Science and Technology Minister Heneri Dzinotyiwei has ploughed into Made saying the Agriculture Minister had ignored his arguments in Cabinet over the matter resulting in the whole issue being overtaken by partisan interests. 
Dzinotyiwei argued that the issue of not deciding matters based on their merit was one of the major weaknesses in Cabinet, adding that scientifically there was nothing wrong with GMOs.
“Turning to the element of our own differences, what I am emphasising is that often, we find that our cabinet is best when there is consensus. No matter how valid your points might be, there has been a tendency to unnecessarily retreat into some kind of negative caucus, may be party support and so forth instead of looking at the facts,” said Dzinotyiwei.
“The facts that we have presented to the Cabinet are those I said. The facts that agriculture presented are those at variance to ours. I hope that we should be able to reach a point in future as Zimbabwe, where consensus can be arrived at,” Dzinotyiwei said.
Dzinotyiwei reasons that it is vital for African countries that have food challenges to introduce GMOs. 
He observed that the extent to which scientific developments were waiting to flood societies and transform lives was so enormous to the extent that judgments based on reasons other than a scientific assessment of the same issues could be sustained.
“You have many Zimbabweans in South Africa and that is what they consume. They do not interfere with the environment. You can look at the environment in South Africa. They are assessed to be medically suitable,” said Dzinotyiwei.
“The United States of America is a very sensitive country when it comes to the relevance of health on food items. The Food and Drug Administration Authority in the United States of America has long been endorsing GMOs.” 
Of late, a number of ministers have spoken out against Cabinet’s conduct.
Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said Cabinet had been “blind, deaf and dumb” in some decisions it had taken to the extent that it was “guilty as charged”.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti is also on record saying the country’s economy was in dire straits because of Cabinet’s ineffectiveness.