Food security is ensured when all people, at all times, have
physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious
food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life. Although many of African countries including Tanzania
are endowed with abundant natural resources, they remain to be the
poorest in the world. African agriculture is performing dismally: crop
production is the lowest in the world. Yields of basic food grains, for
example, are one-fifth those of China. The average of fertilizer use in
Africa is 8 kg per hectare compared to 60 and 100 kg per hectare in
Latin America and Asia respectively; indicating that the Green
Revolution has had very little effect on the continent's agriculture in
the last 2-3 decades. There are number of limitations to greater
productivity in Africa which include but not limited to the high cost of
farm inputs, declining per capita land sizes, frequent droughts, lack
of water resources, poor crop varieties and livestock breeds, diseases
and numerous pests, poor livestock forage, low technological base, rural
infrastructure and financial constraints - all contributing to food
insecurity and poverty. Biotechnology offers great hope for directly
addressing these and other challenges of the African countries in human
health, agriculture and environment and sustainable utilization of
natural resources.
Modern biotechnology has the potential to
provide new opportunities for achieving enhanced agricultural
productivity in many countries in Africa in a way that alleviates
poverty, improves food security and nutrition, and promotes sustainable
use of natural resources.
Public awareness and understanding of
biotechnology has great implication not only in successful application
of biotechnology in research for development, but also on the acceptance
of products of biotechnology. It has been observed that stakeholders
including policymakers and decision-makers, research managers and
scientists in many developing countries have inadequate knowledge about
biotechnology, its impacts, as well as its potential for socio economic
development.
Public information and participation may relate to
the degree of transparency in the technology transfer system and to the
extent to which the public can provide input into the formulation either
of a policy or of a specific decision. In this context, transparency
refers to the extent to which governments provide information on why and
how risk assessments are performed and decisions made, as well, the
conclusions and decisions that have been reached. The provision of
information concerning both potential benefits and risks of the
application of biotechnology and use of products thereof is an essential
component of building public trust in new technologies. The issue is
not simply one of providing balanced scientific information to the
public, but rather of building trust between science and society.
The
introduction and launching of the Open Forum on Agricultural
Biotechnology in Africa - Tanzania Chapter brings together stakeholders
in biotechnology and enable interactions between scientists,
journalists, the civil society, industrialists, lawmakers and policy
makers. The Open Forum takes the form of a monthly lunch meeting that
will provide an opportunity for key stakeholders to know one another,
share knowledge and experiences, make new contacts and explore new
avenues of bringing the benefits of biotechnology to the African
agricultural sector. The Open Forum will provide an opportunity to make
formal presentations or informal discussions focussing on the
relationships between science, technology, innovation, environmental
protection, policy, trade, social benefits sharing and their impact on
economic development.
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