3 March 2010
Uganda will host an International conference on Agro-biotechnology, Biosafety and Seed system that will highlight, discuss challenges and opportunities of safe biotechnology application in developing counties.
The conference, dubbed "Agbiosafeseed 2010", will be held on March 8 to 11 at Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala, and is expected to attract over 200 participants from all over the globe. "This three day networking and knowledge-sharing conference will provide a platform for biotechnology stakeholders, researchers and policy makers to share experiences and lessons on progress, challenges and prospects agro-biotechnology, biosafety and seed system in the developing world," Arthur Makara, Science Foundation for Livelihood and Development (Scifode) Executive Director told the press on February 20.
The conference, the first of its kind, will be organised under the theme, "Tapping Agro-Biotech Potential for improved Seed Production and Utilisation" and will be presided over by Vice President Gilbert Bukenya . It is organised by Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (Ruforum) and Scifode with various forms of support from the Programme for Biosafety Systems and Naro among others.
According to Peter Wamboga, Scifode Director for Communication, the meeting would discuss topics such as Biotechnology and plant breeding systems, Genetically Modified (GM) seed production and distribution systems.
It will also talk about Biotechnology in fish, livestock and forestry improvement as well as Agro-Biotechnology products, business opportunities, marketing and commercialisation challenges among others. "Participants will have an opportunity to listen to experiences from other countries in Europe, Africa, USA, Asia and Latin America about modern agriculture biotechnology advancements and social-economic transformation in those regions," Mr Wamboga said.
Mr Makara said they expect farmers to attend the meeting in big numbers because what will be discussed relates to using advanced technology to improve productivity and quality in the midst of the current changing global context of climate change and other issues emerging.
The meeting comes at a time when Ugandan scientists and other stakeholders are advocating for biosafety law to operationalise their research work.
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