ISAAA AfriCenter launched the ISAAA Brief 51 at the 82nd event of the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology on June 3, 2016, in Nairobi, Kenya. The launch was attended by 60 stakeholders, including women scientists from public and private research institutions, and youth leaders from the East African Youth Assembly.
Honorable Jennifer Murogocho, a farmer and Member of the Meru County Assembly was the guest of honor at the meeting. Sharing from the experience gained through visiting countries that have grown GM crops, Hon. Murogocho commended agricultural biotechnology as a tool that would make a difference for Kenyan farmers. She encouraged the youth to choose agriculture as it could be a means out of unemployment.
“I was happy to meet South African young farmers who grow GM crops and are proud to be farmers because they have GM maize and cotton, which gives them good returns,” said Hon. Murogosho.
The official launch was followed by discussions in a “Table for Twenty” model, where three groups discussed about the potential of GM crops for the country as well as the opportunity cost of not adopting.
In Tanzania, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Honorable Florens Turuka vouched for the country’s readiness to transact business on GM crops. Speaking at the launch of the same report (ISAAA Brief 51), Honorable Turuka said the government intends to revolutionize agriculture in Tanzania by introducing biotech crops to improve the quality of yields.
“We want to make sure that the quality of the yields that we are harvesting is improved. We believe this report we have launched will help us show the public how other countries are benefiting from agri-biotechnology.”
The meeting was organized by the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Tanzania in collaboration with the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro, Eastern Tanzania on 30th May 2016. It was attended by 90 participants including farmers, scientists, academe and media.