Posted on October, 15, 2018 at 10:25 am
By Michael J. Ssali
Many of our readers may not have read last week’s issue of Crop Biotech Update (cropbiotechupdate@isaaa.org), an online publication in which it was disclosed that UBIC (Uganda Biotechnology Information Centre) has initiated some efforts to integrate Biosciences into our country’s education system.
“UBIC is conducting a series of teachers’ training workshops this year to create and increase countrywide appreciation of integration of biosciences in the country’s formal education system,” reads an article in the publication.
The workshops are envisioned as important opportunities for the teachers to get acquainted with the modern agricultural biotechnology work going on at various institutes of National Agricultural Research Organisation(NARO), and interact with different scientists and experts.
It is expected that the teachers will pass on the knowledge to their students and local communities.
Farmers face big challenges today including climate change, resistant crop diseases, and depleted soils among others.
Our population which was 35.4 million in 2015 and will be 41.2 million by 2020, according to UBOS is among the fastest growing in the world.
The situation calls for immediate efforts to increase food production for a bigger population and to boost household incomes since our economy is so dependent on agriculture.
Your columnist has often argued that the school is the best place to introduce agricultural skills to young people through practical work in the school garden and the teachers must be equipped with the necessary knowledge and equipment for the job.
We must, therefore, welcome the introduction of agricultural biotechnology in our formal education system because it has some of the best solutions to the problems that farmers face.
Perhaps due to lack of correct information about the many benefits of agricultural biotechnology, it has taken so long for Ugandan policy makers to come up with a Biotechnology and Bio-safety Law which is a requirement for growing biotech crops by farmers.
If agricultural biotechnology had been part of their school curriculum they would have less doubt about its capacity to boost the country’s agricultural production, household incomes and foreign exchange earnings.
Growing genetically modified crops has transformed the economies of such countries as India and Brazil
Source: Daily Monitor