Importation, consumption and cultivation of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) is still prohibited in Tanzania, according to a local senior government official.

Local English newspaper This Day on Friday quoted Tanzanian Deputy Minister of Agriculture Christopher Kajoro Chizi as saying that any distribution and sales of transgenic crops, seeds and food products are illegal in the country.

"Since we are still preparing a policy for GMOs, for the time being they are not allowed into the country," he said, adding that the Tanzanian public needs to be informed about the difference between GMOs and biotechnology crops.

The deputy minister made the confirmation while clarifying on an enquiry into whether the ongoing sales of a GMO maize seed variety, Dekalb maize, had been sanctioned by the ministry.

The newspaper also quoted a representative of the Dekalb maize producer, Monsanto, as acknowledging that Dekalb maize seed varieties DK8071 and DK8031 had been selling in Tanzania for some years now and none of these varieties were GM.

Yet local agro-scientists have claimed that these varieties are a hybrid between the conventional Dekalb 818 variety and a genetically-engineered crop to produce the insecticide known as Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short.