
Zimbabwean Farmers Witness Bt Cotton Trials in Malawi
April 10, 2014 |
It is a must for Zimbabwe to consider adoption of Bt cotton to increase production and revive the textile and clothing industry, that is according to farmers' representatives who have attended Bt cotton field trial tour in Malawi. Berean Mukwende of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union said that the Zimbabwean farmers are experiencing massive losses because of bollworm infestation. He thinks that Bt cotton adoption could be a solution to this problem and enhance the profit of farmers.
After seeing the Bt cotton trials at Lilongwe University in Malawi, Garikai Msika of the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union encouraged his fellow farmers to "make a lot of noise to adopt this technology."
"Malawi wants to promote demand driven scientific research," said Dr. Ibrahim Benesi, deputy director of Agricultural Research Services in Malawi. He said that as part of the government, they don't want to block science. "We want to facilitate science for the good of agriculture. If there are good technologies, we want our people to benefit from them provided we follow our biosafety regulations and procedures," he added.
Zimbabwe has not yet approved commercial planting of biotech crops. However, the government has established the National Biotechnology Authority in 2006 to regulate research, transport, import, manufacture, safe handling, and use of genetically modified organisms and products.
Read more at http://allafrica.com/stories/201403311302.html.
|
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- International Research Team Releases Peanut Genome Sequence
- IPCC: Actions Needed to Build Resilience to Climate Change and Increase Food Production
- Zimbabwean Farmers Witness Bt Cotton Trials in Malawi
- Tomato Study Provides More Evidence of GM Food Safety
- Scientists Uncover Genes to Make Disease-Resistant Grains
- Calcium Found to be Involved in Rapid Plant Cell Communication
- Wheat Field Study Shows Food Quality Will Suffer with Rising CO2
- New Computer Model Developed to Breed Crops that Produce More Using Less Water
- Vietnam's MARD Minister Cao Duc Phat: GM Crops is an Achievement of Mankind
- Bangladesh Ag Minister Urged Biotechnologists to Develop Crops and Technologies for Environmental Stresses
- Mechanization and Biotechnology for Agricultural Development in Bangladesh
- Seminar Series on Plant Biotechnology in Korea
- Chitosan Enhances Efficacy of Pseudomonas sp. Against Tomato Leaf Curl Virus
- Scientists Develop DNA Origami
-
Research Highlights
- Scientists Develop GM Durum Wheat with Medium–hard Kernel Texture
- Virus-Based RNAi Used to Control Huanglongbing
- Arabidopsis Assists Sugarcane in Battle with Drought
-
Beyond Crop Biotech
- U.S. Department of Defense Explores Biotech
-
Announcements
- Iran Promoting Islamic Nobel Prize for Science and Technology
-
Resources
- ISAAA Brief 46 Executive Summary in 12 Languages
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (February 5, 2025)
- Gene Editing Supplement (January 30, 2025)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet