James Chuang, the Taiwanese Ambassador, while attending 19th International Trade Fair in Blantyre, said that, in order to improve on textile sector, country needs to grow organic cotton which has a high potential in the international market.
The Ambassodor agreed to the views of President Bingu wa Mutharika that organically produced cotton has no ill effects on the users' health. He also said that Taiwan as a trade partner will help in growing organic cotton on large scale.
Mutharika stressed that companies should utilize the local grown cotton in maximising textile manufacturing rather than exporting it.
Last month Malawi government had set a minimum price for cotton at K40 per kg, which is higher than the value of last year K30 per kg.
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Wanderers' Community Cohesion Spreads To Malawi
FRIENDS OF Mulanje Orphans, (FOMO) a UK based charity, providing day care in Malawi, Africa for some 4,000 orphaned children, makes a giant leap in raising awareness of the plight of its orphans and in providing them with football training.
On Friday 25 May, two football coaches will spend two weeks training the 10 junior and 10 senior orphan football teams. The first of these coaches is Abdul Basit who is the Community Cohesion Officer for Bolton Wanderers Football Club and has a vast amount of experience in football coaching. Over the years he has done a lot of voluntary coaching as well as working for Oldham Athletic and Manchester F.A.
Abdul said:
"I cant wait to get out there and help the people of Malawi in both a footballing capacity as well as helping to feed and clothe them. It will be a life changing and heart warming experience".
The coaches will be joined by footballing legend Viv Anderson, who appeared for England 30 times between 1978 and 1988, scoring 2 goals. The Malawian National Team will pay a visit between their forthcoming matches to show the orphans their footballing skills and provide a massive boost to them.
All the action will be filmed by Granada for a programme to air 10th July at 7.30pm on ITV1.
Series Producer Gerrie Byrne said:
"The sheer scale of the FOMO operation inspired by one woman and sustained by a handful of volunteers in Lancashire is an inspiring tale for our viewers. We hope to bring a first-hand account of how lives in Malawi have been so massively changed by the support they've attracted."
The FA has supported this project providing FA Ambassador Viv Anderson, kit donations and the Malawi National Team connection.
Malawi, a country whereby 1 in 7 suffer from HIV/Aids is one of The FA's UEFA-CAF Meridian Project Partners, they already support and work in Malawi as part of their International Development Programme, assisting with the development of football in Africa.
FOMO volunteer Dave Armstrong, said
"This project will help to raise the profile of FOMO and highlight to the North West people the problems faced by Malawian orphans, but also it gives those orphans so much hope to know that people from the UK have given their time and effort to help them improve not only their footballing skills, but their lives. This visit by footballers and coaches will be in their minds forever".
On Friday 25 May, two football coaches will spend two weeks training the 10 junior and 10 senior orphan football teams. The first of these coaches is Abdul Basit who is the Community Cohesion Officer for Bolton Wanderers Football Club and has a vast amount of experience in football coaching. Over the years he has done a lot of voluntary coaching as well as working for Oldham Athletic and Manchester F.A.
Abdul said:
"I cant wait to get out there and help the people of Malawi in both a footballing capacity as well as helping to feed and clothe them. It will be a life changing and heart warming experience".
The coaches will be joined by footballing legend Viv Anderson, who appeared for England 30 times between 1978 and 1988, scoring 2 goals. The Malawian National Team will pay a visit between their forthcoming matches to show the orphans their footballing skills and provide a massive boost to them.
All the action will be filmed by Granada for a programme to air 10th July at 7.30pm on ITV1.
Series Producer Gerrie Byrne said:
"The sheer scale of the FOMO operation inspired by one woman and sustained by a handful of volunteers in Lancashire is an inspiring tale for our viewers. We hope to bring a first-hand account of how lives in Malawi have been so massively changed by the support they've attracted."
The FA has supported this project providing FA Ambassador Viv Anderson, kit donations and the Malawi National Team connection.
Malawi, a country whereby 1 in 7 suffer from HIV/Aids is one of The FA's UEFA-CAF Meridian Project Partners, they already support and work in Malawi as part of their International Development Programme, assisting with the development of football in Africa.
FOMO volunteer Dave Armstrong, said
"This project will help to raise the profile of FOMO and highlight to the North West people the problems faced by Malawian orphans, but also it gives those orphans so much hope to know that people from the UK have given their time and effort to help them improve not only their footballing skills, but their lives. This visit by footballers and coaches will be in their minds forever".
Things to report
Nothing much exciting has happened these few weeks so this will be a short entry! We have been busy with several activities to keep us amused.
Things to report are:
• I am still waiting for my furniture to be made by the local carpenter – he assures me he has the material and is starting tomorrow! ‘Tomorrow’ is a very common phrase in Malawi!
• I think I now also have mice to add to the wildlife living in my garden. I bought rat poison to put down and it bizarrely comes in wedges like cheese – only bright pink. Perhaps they think that because mice like to eat cheese they will be tempted with this look a like cheese. Maybe mice are colour blind and will really think it is cheese! Let’s hope it works!
• On the wildlife note – I also think I have bedbugs in my mattress. Everyday I wake up with more bites so I am constantly spraying the bed. Apparently they will die if I put the mattress outside for a few days in the sun. Lets hope the tumba flies don’t decide to lay their eggs on the mattress!!!
• I am heading down to Lilongwe soon for an educational workshop with all the other Education volunteers. Looking forward to catching up with everyone again. Having to get money sent from home in preparation for the shopping in Lilongwe!
• That really is all I can think of writing at the moment. Hopefully I will have a few more tales to tell soon.
• In Malawi there is no really difference with using masculine and feminine in speech so my night watch man is constantly calling me ‘sir’. It’s also very funny when a Malawian is talking about a woman doing something and suddenly they change in to a ‘he’ then back into a ‘she’ again!!
Hope all is well.
Caro (as I am called in Africa!!!!)
Things to report are:
• I am still waiting for my furniture to be made by the local carpenter – he assures me he has the material and is starting tomorrow! ‘Tomorrow’ is a very common phrase in Malawi!
• I think I now also have mice to add to the wildlife living in my garden. I bought rat poison to put down and it bizarrely comes in wedges like cheese – only bright pink. Perhaps they think that because mice like to eat cheese they will be tempted with this look a like cheese. Maybe mice are colour blind and will really think it is cheese! Let’s hope it works!
• On the wildlife note – I also think I have bedbugs in my mattress. Everyday I wake up with more bites so I am constantly spraying the bed. Apparently they will die if I put the mattress outside for a few days in the sun. Lets hope the tumba flies don’t decide to lay their eggs on the mattress!!!
• I am heading down to Lilongwe soon for an educational workshop with all the other Education volunteers. Looking forward to catching up with everyone again. Having to get money sent from home in preparation for the shopping in Lilongwe!
• That really is all I can think of writing at the moment. Hopefully I will have a few more tales to tell soon.
• In Malawi there is no really difference with using masculine and feminine in speech so my night watch man is constantly calling me ‘sir’. It’s also very funny when a Malawian is talking about a woman doing something and suddenly they change in to a ‘he’ then back into a ‘she’ again!!
Hope all is well.
Caro (as I am called in Africa!!!!)
Illovo delivers sweet results
South African sugar producer Illovo Sugar (ILV) reported a 43% increase in diluted headline earnings per share to 147.7 cents for the year ended March from 101.4 cents a year ago.
A final dividend of 45 cents per share was declared, making a total distribution for the year of 75 cents - up from 62.5 cents a year ago.
Turnover was up 15% to 6.3 billion rand, while operating profit was 38% higher at 1.03 billion rand. Headline earnings grew 46% to 515.3 million rand.
Illovo MD Don MacLeod described the results as "solid", with good increases in revenue, earnings and margins.
"As reported in April, our overall sugar production was impacted by adverse weather conditions in South Africa and Tanzania but we achieved record production in Malawi. We are making a significant investment in Zambia to almost double our production in that country in the next two years. This is the first major step towards further expansion into Africa as part of our strategy of being the leading, lowest-cost sugar producer on the continent."
The group said the 46% growth in headline earnings was achieved through much improved world and regional sugar prices, higher downstream product export prices, strong domestic market sales, cost savings and the weaker rand.
These factors more than offset the negative impact of lower sugar production, primarily in South Africa and Tanzania.
The contributions to operating profit were: sugar production 59%, cane growing 33% and downstream 8%. By country contributions were: South Africa 21%, Malawi 39%, Zambia 22%, Swaziland 7%, Tanzania 9% and Mozambique 2%.
Group cane production of 5.44 million tons was similar to that achieved in the previous season, whilst sugar production of 1.72 million tons was significantly lower due to adverse weather conditions in South Africa and Tanzania. Record cane production was achieved in Malawi.
Factory performance in general was satisfactory with high levels of mechanical and operational efficiency being achieved, it said. The operation in Mozambique performed well and a number of records were established, whilst record sugar production was attained by the operations in Malawi.
The recovery of sugar from cane was in general lower than in the previous year, partly as a result of poorer cane quality. The downstream operations performed well, with record output of ethyl alcohol, diacetyl and lactulose.
The group supplies sugar and downstream products to domestic, regional and world markets. Domestic sales are very important to the business, and it is encouraging that they have shown an improvement across the group, it said.
Sales into domestic markets contributed 64% to total revenue, whilst exports to 110 countries contributed the balance. A strength of the group is that 74% of sugar production by volume and 80% by value was sold into the domestic or premium-priced export markets, it added.
In the current year, own cane, sugar and downstream production are anticipated to exceed the levels achieved in the past year, Illovo said.
"World prices have declined from last year’s levels which will impact on revenues from both world and regional markets. The results for the current year will again be impacted by the level of the rand compared to other currencies, particularly the US dollar," it added.
In recent weeks, the rand has strengthened considerably which will impact negatively on profits. Overall, it is anticipated that growth in earnings in real terms will be achieved in the year ahead.
Illovo’s existing factory and field operations have significant growth potential and the major expansion in Zambia is the first step in this process. Further investments in Africa continue to be pursued.
"We expect to report further growth in earnings in the year ahead," MacLeod said.
A final dividend of 45 cents per share was declared, making a total distribution for the year of 75 cents - up from 62.5 cents a year ago.
Turnover was up 15% to 6.3 billion rand, while operating profit was 38% higher at 1.03 billion rand. Headline earnings grew 46% to 515.3 million rand.
Illovo MD Don MacLeod described the results as "solid", with good increases in revenue, earnings and margins.
"As reported in April, our overall sugar production was impacted by adverse weather conditions in South Africa and Tanzania but we achieved record production in Malawi. We are making a significant investment in Zambia to almost double our production in that country in the next two years. This is the first major step towards further expansion into Africa as part of our strategy of being the leading, lowest-cost sugar producer on the continent."
The group said the 46% growth in headline earnings was achieved through much improved world and regional sugar prices, higher downstream product export prices, strong domestic market sales, cost savings and the weaker rand.
These factors more than offset the negative impact of lower sugar production, primarily in South Africa and Tanzania.
The contributions to operating profit were: sugar production 59%, cane growing 33% and downstream 8%. By country contributions were: South Africa 21%, Malawi 39%, Zambia 22%, Swaziland 7%, Tanzania 9% and Mozambique 2%.
Group cane production of 5.44 million tons was similar to that achieved in the previous season, whilst sugar production of 1.72 million tons was significantly lower due to adverse weather conditions in South Africa and Tanzania. Record cane production was achieved in Malawi.
Factory performance in general was satisfactory with high levels of mechanical and operational efficiency being achieved, it said. The operation in Mozambique performed well and a number of records were established, whilst record sugar production was attained by the operations in Malawi.
The recovery of sugar from cane was in general lower than in the previous year, partly as a result of poorer cane quality. The downstream operations performed well, with record output of ethyl alcohol, diacetyl and lactulose.
The group supplies sugar and downstream products to domestic, regional and world markets. Domestic sales are very important to the business, and it is encouraging that they have shown an improvement across the group, it said.
Sales into domestic markets contributed 64% to total revenue, whilst exports to 110 countries contributed the balance. A strength of the group is that 74% of sugar production by volume and 80% by value was sold into the domestic or premium-priced export markets, it added.
In the current year, own cane, sugar and downstream production are anticipated to exceed the levels achieved in the past year, Illovo said.
"World prices have declined from last year’s levels which will impact on revenues from both world and regional markets. The results for the current year will again be impacted by the level of the rand compared to other currencies, particularly the US dollar," it added.
In recent weeks, the rand has strengthened considerably which will impact negatively on profits. Overall, it is anticipated that growth in earnings in real terms will be achieved in the year ahead.
Illovo’s existing factory and field operations have significant growth potential and the major expansion in Zambia is the first step in this process. Further investments in Africa continue to be pursued.
"We expect to report further growth in earnings in the year ahead," MacLeod said.
Cyclists move up a gear for 4x4
THOUSANDS of pounds have been raised by cyclists in a charity bike run in Gardenstown for a new 4x4 vehicle that will help orphaned and poverty-stricken children in Malawi.
Gardenstown minister, the Rev Donald Martin, took a trip there earlier this year and was inspired to raise money for the new vehicle, as well as raising awareness of the plight of the African country.
Since just over a month ago, £5,500 has been collected for the 4x4 pick-up, which will go to the Chisomo Children's Club, who work with street kids and their families in Blantyre and Limbe, Southern Malawi. The majority of the money was generated by the cycle run.
A number of youngsters in Gardenstown helped to organise the nine-mile trek after hearing the minister relate tales of his experiences. Rev Martin was one of 14 volunteers and church leaders who visited Malawi in February as part of an initiative organised by the Tearfund charity.
Fourteen-year-old Matthew West of the Friday Night club at Gardenstown Church of Scotland helped organise the run with his clubmates. Around 30 people of varying ages took part.
The church is also set to host an evening of praise for Malawi this Friday, May 25.
It is hoped that the target sum of £10,000 can be achieved before the summer holidays.
The minister explained that it was as a result of a conversation with the director of the Chisomo Children's Club, Nelson Mkanawire, that he decided to raise the money. He found out that two different agencies carrying out different kinds of work in the area he visited were going to have to share a vehicle, because two of their vehicles had fallen into disrepair. He said: "You can imagine if we were sharing a car between us. It wouldn't be very handy. I thought this is something I could do when I get back to Scotland.
"This Chisomo Children's Club lifts many boys off the streets: street kids who have maybe run away from home because of difficulties. Maybe their parents are dead and they are staying with aunts and uncles, and are perhaps not getting on with them, so they go out on the streets. Chisomo tries to take them back and reintegrate them with their families. When they are taking them back, they find horrendous situations."
A small landlocked country in southern Africa, Malawi has traditional ties with Scotland dating back to the work of missionaries from here.
Participants in a Gardenstown bike run who raised thousands of pounds to pay for a 4x4 pick-up truck that will help poverty-stricken children in Malawi. The run was inspired by Gardenstown minister Rev Donald Martin, far left, who visited the country in February this year.
More than 70% of its population of around 13 million people rely on semi-subsistence agriculture to survive. According to the UN, it is the poorest country in the world not recently affected by conflict.
The spread of HIV is a huge problem, with an estimated 17% of Malawi's people now infected with the virus – rates in some areas are much higher. Life expectancy is about 40 years.
Malawi has also suffered from recurrent droughts due to the changing climate, and in recent years millions have come to rely on food aid.
The money will be going through Tearfund to Chisomo, who will be able to purchase a suitable vehicle from South Africa.
The evening of praise for Malawi is set to begin at 7pm at Gardenstown Village Hall, and Rev Martin will give a presentation on the Chisomo Children's Club. There is no charge for the evening, but an offering will be collected.
Gardenstown minister, the Rev Donald Martin, took a trip there earlier this year and was inspired to raise money for the new vehicle, as well as raising awareness of the plight of the African country.
Since just over a month ago, £5,500 has been collected for the 4x4 pick-up, which will go to the Chisomo Children's Club, who work with street kids and their families in Blantyre and Limbe, Southern Malawi. The majority of the money was generated by the cycle run.
A number of youngsters in Gardenstown helped to organise the nine-mile trek after hearing the minister relate tales of his experiences. Rev Martin was one of 14 volunteers and church leaders who visited Malawi in February as part of an initiative organised by the Tearfund charity.
Fourteen-year-old Matthew West of the Friday Night club at Gardenstown Church of Scotland helped organise the run with his clubmates. Around 30 people of varying ages took part.
The church is also set to host an evening of praise for Malawi this Friday, May 25.
It is hoped that the target sum of £10,000 can be achieved before the summer holidays.
The minister explained that it was as a result of a conversation with the director of the Chisomo Children's Club, Nelson Mkanawire, that he decided to raise the money. He found out that two different agencies carrying out different kinds of work in the area he visited were going to have to share a vehicle, because two of their vehicles had fallen into disrepair. He said: "You can imagine if we were sharing a car between us. It wouldn't be very handy. I thought this is something I could do when I get back to Scotland.
"This Chisomo Children's Club lifts many boys off the streets: street kids who have maybe run away from home because of difficulties. Maybe their parents are dead and they are staying with aunts and uncles, and are perhaps not getting on with them, so they go out on the streets. Chisomo tries to take them back and reintegrate them with their families. When they are taking them back, they find horrendous situations."
A small landlocked country in southern Africa, Malawi has traditional ties with Scotland dating back to the work of missionaries from here.
Participants in a Gardenstown bike run who raised thousands of pounds to pay for a 4x4 pick-up truck that will help poverty-stricken children in Malawi. The run was inspired by Gardenstown minister Rev Donald Martin, far left, who visited the country in February this year.
More than 70% of its population of around 13 million people rely on semi-subsistence agriculture to survive. According to the UN, it is the poorest country in the world not recently affected by conflict.
The spread of HIV is a huge problem, with an estimated 17% of Malawi's people now infected with the virus – rates in some areas are much higher. Life expectancy is about 40 years.
Malawi has also suffered from recurrent droughts due to the changing climate, and in recent years millions have come to rely on food aid.
The money will be going through Tearfund to Chisomo, who will be able to purchase a suitable vehicle from South Africa.
The evening of praise for Malawi is set to begin at 7pm at Gardenstown Village Hall, and Rev Martin will give a presentation on the Chisomo Children's Club. There is no charge for the evening, but an offering will be collected.
Zimbabwe: Tengenenge - a Cultural Melting Pot
ONCE it was our cultural roots, our background, upbringing, induced beliefs and behavioural patterns which proclaimed our cultural identity, had a long-term effect on who and what we are, how we see and perceive and how we are seen and perceived.
Today we move away from our cultural origins, so that they are often unrecognisable in the way we live and behave.
Many of us are the sum of our exposure to many cultures so that we ourselves are examples of cultural diversity, but it is not all people who stick with and stand fast for the culture they were born with.
Few people stay put, they pull up their roots, go from the third world to the first, the village to the township, the township to the city, adapt to and adopt the ways of other cultures.
But sometimes they like to retain aspects of what came before and see it as more than their history -- the local idioms of their language, their ingrained habits, their means of expression, their music, their dances, their ways of marking rites of passage.
And so it was during the l950s in the Southern African region there were people moving away from both their countries and their cultures to find work in what is now Zimbabwe on the tobacco farms in the Guruve district and what is now Zambia on the line of rail.
These people -- Chewas from Malawi and Zambia, Yaos from Malawi, Mbunda Mbundus from Angola and north-west Zambia travelled light, their possession were meagre, their wealth lay in their cultures, with their richness of music and dance and art.
The Chewas who came to the Guruve district to work on tobacco farms, brought with them their Chewa language, to become the lingua franca on the tobacco farms, still spoken today among local people, Chewa and non-Chewa.
They bought with them what might now be termed a "cultural dance" their Gule Wamkulu, the Great Dance of the Social Institution of the Nyau, part of the socialisation of the male Chewa, an initiation into adulthood.
So the Nyau remained part of the Chewa way of life in the land of the Korekore with their lion spirits and legendary kings and in Guruve the home of chiefs and spirits.
And so it was that a young apprentice tobacco farmer, Tom Blomefield from Durban, seeking adventure, a horse breaker, the favourite dancer with other men's wives, a chrome miner, was stationed on a farm up Impinge way. Chewa he learned and beginning to think in Chewa, with a grasp of the cultural concepts embodied in the Chewa language, he became close to his Chewa workers.
In these workers he saw artists, makers of masks and drums, musicians and dancers.
He saw the need for them to express their beliefs in a life beyond through drumming and dancing, wearing costumes and masks.
And there were Yaos from Malawi and he learned the descriptive powers of their language in its most rudimentary form.
These people adapted to local conditions, they married into the local community, they began to speak the local Korekore, but culturally they remained who they were and where they came from, and retained the traditional African cultural values of respect for others, and a sense of community.
So when Tengenenge started, in l966, the sculptors saw opportunity to express their cultural identity and background, and keep their cultures secure and intact, through stone sculpture.
In all cultures religious beliefs variously through the written word, myths, rituals or through prayer instruct people how to behave.
So at Tengenenge these people of various spiritual backgrounds who had learned to live together as workers on the tobacco farms, despite their different cultural origins, to live together as sculptors.
Today we move away from our cultural origins, so that they are often unrecognisable in the way we live and behave.
Many of us are the sum of our exposure to many cultures so that we ourselves are examples of cultural diversity, but it is not all people who stick with and stand fast for the culture they were born with.
Few people stay put, they pull up their roots, go from the third world to the first, the village to the township, the township to the city, adapt to and adopt the ways of other cultures.
But sometimes they like to retain aspects of what came before and see it as more than their history -- the local idioms of their language, their ingrained habits, their means of expression, their music, their dances, their ways of marking rites of passage.
And so it was during the l950s in the Southern African region there were people moving away from both their countries and their cultures to find work in what is now Zimbabwe on the tobacco farms in the Guruve district and what is now Zambia on the line of rail.
These people -- Chewas from Malawi and Zambia, Yaos from Malawi, Mbunda Mbundus from Angola and north-west Zambia travelled light, their possession were meagre, their wealth lay in their cultures, with their richness of music and dance and art.
The Chewas who came to the Guruve district to work on tobacco farms, brought with them their Chewa language, to become the lingua franca on the tobacco farms, still spoken today among local people, Chewa and non-Chewa.
They bought with them what might now be termed a "cultural dance" their Gule Wamkulu, the Great Dance of the Social Institution of the Nyau, part of the socialisation of the male Chewa, an initiation into adulthood.
So the Nyau remained part of the Chewa way of life in the land of the Korekore with their lion spirits and legendary kings and in Guruve the home of chiefs and spirits.
And so it was that a young apprentice tobacco farmer, Tom Blomefield from Durban, seeking adventure, a horse breaker, the favourite dancer with other men's wives, a chrome miner, was stationed on a farm up Impinge way. Chewa he learned and beginning to think in Chewa, with a grasp of the cultural concepts embodied in the Chewa language, he became close to his Chewa workers.
In these workers he saw artists, makers of masks and drums, musicians and dancers.
He saw the need for them to express their beliefs in a life beyond through drumming and dancing, wearing costumes and masks.
And there were Yaos from Malawi and he learned the descriptive powers of their language in its most rudimentary form.
These people adapted to local conditions, they married into the local community, they began to speak the local Korekore, but culturally they remained who they were and where they came from, and retained the traditional African cultural values of respect for others, and a sense of community.
So when Tengenenge started, in l966, the sculptors saw opportunity to express their cultural identity and background, and keep their cultures secure and intact, through stone sculpture.
In all cultures religious beliefs variously through the written word, myths, rituals or through prayer instruct people how to behave.
So at Tengenenge these people of various spiritual backgrounds who had learned to live together as workers on the tobacco farms, despite their different cultural origins, to live together as sculptors.
GMO Products Spread in SADC - Study
GENETICALLY Modified Organism products and seed are fast spreading into most Southern African countries which lack the technological capacity to screen and detect GMOs, a new study has revealed.
A preliminary GMO Spread Survey report done by the Biotechnology Trust of Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Community Technology Development Trust, Tobacco Research Board and other research institutes in Zambia, Namibia and Swaziland even shows areas where GM crops are suspected to be grown.
The 12-month GMO Spread Survey was done in five Southern African countries that included Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe between January andDecember 2006.
Sources said the survey was conducted to identify potentially modified products in these selected countries and to identify modes and mechanisms of entry as well as distribution of GMOs in these five countries.
A total of 229 questionnaires were distributed and survey responses of about 27 percent were achieved mostly from experts in the field of biotechnology.
"The results obtained from this survey are preliminary and should not be generalised for countries where the survey was done. Rather these are the views of the respondents.
"These results, though, are indicative of the situation in the region and give a reflection of the population," the GMO Spread Survey preliminary report stated.
The major concern cited in all the countries under the study was human health and safety (30 percent), followed by fear of contamination of indigenous resources by GMOs (26 percent).
About 10 percent of the respondents were worried that GMOs would be used to undermine the country's economic and political sovereignty while 5 percent were concerned at the lack of policy to regulate biotechnology.
The report noted that a higher percentage of responses, on a country basis, were from Zambia and Malawi where advocacy work was stronger than other countries.
Suspected GMO products in the five countries included maize, cotton and soyabean, livestock feed, tobacco, bananas, potatoes, poultry products and vegetables.
The majority of respondents (38 percent) believed maize contributed most to GMO products followed by cotton (13 percent), livestock feed (9 percent) and soyabean (8 percent).
Malawi indicated a higher percentage for yellow maize (17 percent) with equal distribution of (14 percent) for potatoes, white maize and livestock feed.
Zambia had a high percentage for white maize (19 percent), yellow maize (15 percent) and an equal distribution of 10 percent for poultry products, soyabean and cotton.
Zimbabwe had an almost equal distribution of yellow maize (21 percent), white maize (21 percent) and cotton 19 percent.
The report noted that there is no distinction between yellow and white maize despite the fact that South Africa, the identified source of maize food aid, targeted yellow maize for GMO production.
Most African countries still have reservations about genetically modified foods and seeds (GMOs) and only a few countries allow them legally despite having no capacity to prevent their spread.
South Africa has embraced GMOs and as the region's strongest economy, scientists say it could be the portal for them entering the rest of the continent -- no matter what individual nations may do, industry watchers and activists say.
In the five countries under the GMO Spread Survey, locations where suspected GMO plants are believed to be grown were those mostly under research and food aid recipient locations in addition to border areas.
In Zambia, suspected areas where GM crops are grown included the Southern, Eastern, Central and Western provinces and points where aid is distributed and refugee camps.
In Zimbabwe, food aid-receiving districts along border areas and research areas were identified as suspected GMO prevalent areas.
In Malawi, research stations were identified as possible growing areas.
"If contamination by transgenic crops is a possibility then there is need to assess the level of contamination and identify contaminated areas," researchers suggested in the report.
"The assessments need to be followed up by constant monitoring of the surrounding regions to minimise and control gene flow from transgenic crops to the indigenous varieties. This will assist the control and regulation of any transgenic material present in the region."
A preliminary GMO Spread Survey report done by the Biotechnology Trust of Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Community Technology Development Trust, Tobacco Research Board and other research institutes in Zambia, Namibia and Swaziland even shows areas where GM crops are suspected to be grown.
The 12-month GMO Spread Survey was done in five Southern African countries that included Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe between January andDecember 2006.
Sources said the survey was conducted to identify potentially modified products in these selected countries and to identify modes and mechanisms of entry as well as distribution of GMOs in these five countries.
A total of 229 questionnaires were distributed and survey responses of about 27 percent were achieved mostly from experts in the field of biotechnology.
"The results obtained from this survey are preliminary and should not be generalised for countries where the survey was done. Rather these are the views of the respondents.
"These results, though, are indicative of the situation in the region and give a reflection of the population," the GMO Spread Survey preliminary report stated.
The major concern cited in all the countries under the study was human health and safety (30 percent), followed by fear of contamination of indigenous resources by GMOs (26 percent).
About 10 percent of the respondents were worried that GMOs would be used to undermine the country's economic and political sovereignty while 5 percent were concerned at the lack of policy to regulate biotechnology.
The report noted that a higher percentage of responses, on a country basis, were from Zambia and Malawi where advocacy work was stronger than other countries.
Suspected GMO products in the five countries included maize, cotton and soyabean, livestock feed, tobacco, bananas, potatoes, poultry products and vegetables.
The majority of respondents (38 percent) believed maize contributed most to GMO products followed by cotton (13 percent), livestock feed (9 percent) and soyabean (8 percent).
Malawi indicated a higher percentage for yellow maize (17 percent) with equal distribution of (14 percent) for potatoes, white maize and livestock feed.
Zambia had a high percentage for white maize (19 percent), yellow maize (15 percent) and an equal distribution of 10 percent for poultry products, soyabean and cotton.
Zimbabwe had an almost equal distribution of yellow maize (21 percent), white maize (21 percent) and cotton 19 percent.
The report noted that there is no distinction between yellow and white maize despite the fact that South Africa, the identified source of maize food aid, targeted yellow maize for GMO production.
Most African countries still have reservations about genetically modified foods and seeds (GMOs) and only a few countries allow them legally despite having no capacity to prevent their spread.
South Africa has embraced GMOs and as the region's strongest economy, scientists say it could be the portal for them entering the rest of the continent -- no matter what individual nations may do, industry watchers and activists say.
In the five countries under the GMO Spread Survey, locations where suspected GMO plants are believed to be grown were those mostly under research and food aid recipient locations in addition to border areas.
In Zambia, suspected areas where GM crops are grown included the Southern, Eastern, Central and Western provinces and points where aid is distributed and refugee camps.
In Zimbabwe, food aid-receiving districts along border areas and research areas were identified as suspected GMO prevalent areas.
In Malawi, research stations were identified as possible growing areas.
"If contamination by transgenic crops is a possibility then there is need to assess the level of contamination and identify contaminated areas," researchers suggested in the report.
"The assessments need to be followed up by constant monitoring of the surrounding regions to minimise and control gene flow from transgenic crops to the indigenous varieties. This will assist the control and regulation of any transgenic material present in the region."
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