IN a bid to help achieve the government’s agenda on industrialisation, journalists should educate Tanzanians, especially farmers, on the importance of using modern agricultural technology.
Biotech researcher Dr Emmaroid Mneney
made these remarks during a two-day training for journalists reporting
on Science, Technology and innovation (STI), with a special emphasis on
agricultural biotechnology held at the Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute (MARI) in Dar es salaam yesterday.
Dr Mneney said media houses have a big
role to play in ensuaring there was a link between researchers and
farmers in the implementations of various technologies, including
genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) technology aimed at increasing food
production and income to farmers.
“Journalists have a big role to play in
providing credible and truthful information to Tanzanians on GMO
technology … the main aim of this trainning is to build awareness,
capacity and enhance skills to journalists on effectively reporting
agricultural biotechnology in Tanzania,” Dr Mneney said.
An advisor on the Open Forum
Agricultural for Biotechnology (OFAB) from COSTECH, Dr Nicholas Nyange,
said the use of biotechnology is very important to farmers since it
increased food production and incomes to small-holder farmers.
Dr Nyange added that Tanzanian still
doesn’t have GM maize seeds in the market, saying that research on the
same was still ongoing at a confined field at Makutupora in Dodoma
region.
“The technology is yet to be fully
implemented in Tanzania … but ongoing research should provide support
efforts by the government in achieving that goal,” he explained.
No comments :
Post a Comment