“Given a number of challenges facing agriculture such as climate change and emerging new diseases such as cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), farmers are now advised to change their traditional ways of farming and adopt new systems such as the use of agricultural biotechnology,” writes Gerald Kitabu, a reporter for IPP Media, a Tanzanian media outlet. Kitabu interviewed Nyinondi Philbert, Coordinator of Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa, Tanzania chapter, who explained the importance of agricultural biotechnology to Tanzanian farmers. Reasons for its importance include its capacity to increase productivity, to protect against disease and insect damage, and to increase environmental sustainability of the farming practices in developing countries.
Read the full, original story here: “‘In the face of new diseases use biotechnology'”
Additional Resources:
- “Study finds strong preference for biofortified cassava in Eastern Kenya,” Harvest Plus
- “Exploiting the Combination of Natural and Genetically Engineered Resistance to Cassava Mosaic and Cassava Brown Streak Viruses Impacting Cassava Production in Africa,” PLOS ONE
