John Agaba
Scientists say East Africa’s farmers need improved seeds to counter pests and effects of climate change
About 12 kilometers from Uganda’s Kampala City, along the Bombo-Gulu Highway, fleshy and dark-green banana plants thrive on a farm ...
Give farmers a chance: Pro-GMO activists march through Nairobi and Kampala calling for the adoption of improved seeds
Pro-GMO activists marched through Nairobi in Kenya and Kampala in Uganda on February 10 and 15, 2023, calling for the ...
Partnership on track to give Bangladeshi and Indonesian farmers disease-resistant GMO potatoes
Researchers will be testing genetically modified potatoes in Bangladesh and Indonesia this year in hopes of providing farmers with an ...
Synthetic biology in Africa: ‘Golden opportunity’ once regulations are in place
Synthetic biology can solve some of Africa’s pressing challenges related to poverty, food insecurity and climate change, scientists say, but ...
African scientists call for policies to support synthetic biology and other innovative technologies
Scientists in Africa are calling on the continent’s leaders to enact policies and other laws that can facilitate adoption of ...
Ugandan scientists developing drought tolerant coffee varieties to save valuable cash crop
After releasing coffee varieties resistant to wilt disease, Ugandan agricultural scientists have begun developing Robusta varieties that are drought-tolerant as ...
GM crops: Kenya and Nigeria progress as Uganda falters
Though several African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia, are making tremendous strides in their quest to develop and commercialize ...
‘Bridging that gap between scientists and ordinary folks’: How storytelling combats anti-GMO advocacy
Many Africans still don’t understand scientists, or what they do. Scientists are widely seen as aloof and detached — a ...
African women are leading biotechnology advance across the continent
Women researchers are strongly influencing the adoption of agricultural biotechnology in Africa. “As African women, we are the ones who ...
African scientists try to resurrect research sidelined by COVID
As African nations begin easing the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, scientists are uncertain about ...
Ugandan scientists use CRISPR in pioneering research to breed hardier cassava
Ugandan scientists have begun moving gene extracts into cassava cells in a first-of-its-kind research trial using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing ...
African farmers want GMO seeds to help weather climate change
It’s an old proverb in these lands that since man has learned to shoot without missing, birds have learned to ...
Kenya’s support for GMO crops likely to influence East Africa
For nearly 20 years, Kenya has attempted to adopt the better-yielding and disease- and drought-tolerant crop varieties bred through genetic ...
Viewpoint: As most of Africa ‘dilly-dallied,’ Sudan, South Africa boosted food production with biotech crops
Why are South Africa and Sudan ahead of every other country on the continent when it comes to biotech?....The nations ...
Better livestock breeding could help bring Uganda’s farmers out of poverty
“Kafuuzi!” Grace Bwogi shouted. A black and grey goat turned in the caller’s direction before shifting her gaze and continuing ...
As Uganda debates GMO safety, its scientists boost food production in neighboring countries
When Dr. Geoffrey Arinaitwe returned home after earning his PhD in biotechnology in Belgium in 2005, Uganda seemed a promising ...
