Research on best ways to assist local farmers practicing mixed farming to boost productivity is the focus of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture’s (IITA) five-year project, which the US government funds at 3.2 million US dollars (over 5bn/-).

However, the project has nothing to do with promotion of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), according to a statement by IITA Regional Corporate Communications Officer Catherine Njuguna in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.

“The research has a very noble objective—to help small-scale farmers in the country in a more integrated manner to increase productivity and production,” she said, distancing IITA from comments by Agriculture and Food Security Minister Professor Jumanne Maghembe that the government is changing in favour of researches into genetically engineered organisms in the country.

“The research will not in any way focus on developing, promoting or introducing genetically modified crops in the country,” Ms Njuguna argued. She said a recent workshop was organized to discuss the implementation of the five-year research that focuses on management practices that integrate better cereals, legumes, vegetables, livestock and trees in mixed farming systems.

The brought together the research project partners from seven of the 15 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research centres, other international and national research institutes, non-governmental organizations, local and international universities, donors and the private sector.

The new research project is one of three multi-stakeholder projects to sustainably intensify key African farming systems under the American government’s Feed the Future Initiative that seeks to tackle global food security challenges, Njuguna pointed out. Tanzania is the project site for the research targeting cereal-based systems in Eastern and Southern Africa.

IITA is taking a lead on the project that covers the Sudano-Sahelian Zone of West Africa. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is spearheading the sustainable intensification of crop-livestock systems in the Ethiopian highlands.

Source Tanzania Daily News

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