ITS "GREY AREA" FOR ZAMBIA'S GENOME EDITING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

ZAMBIA'S GENOME EDITING COMMUNICATION STRATEGY HITS SNAG

...for now , it's a grey area, we have only concentrated on developing the STI policy-says Jane Chinkusu.


By Alfonso Kasongo
Zambia's  quest to embrace new agricultural scientific techniques and innovations such as genome-editing to enhanced uptake of science for optimized agriculture in the country, continues to face numerous challenges despite fears of food insecurity due to adverse impacts of climate change.

In December, 2022, with the support from AUDA-NEPAD, Zambia began the process of developing a genome-editing communication strategy with the aim to foster broader understanding of the new biotechnology technique. 


The Southern African nation is among other five African countries which AUDA-NEPAD  identified for the development of the Genome Editing communication strategies with the goal to widen the understanding of new biotechnology technique in respective countries.

 A consortium of different stakeholders which included government line officials. biotechnology ,health experts, researchers, religious organizations ,media and science communication and advocacy organizations convened in Lusaka to devise the strategy.

Ms Chinkusu- Dir. STI- MoTS-pic courtesy of MoTS


However,government has confirmed that nothing  has been done to spearhead
 the process of validating the strategy, a year after a document was drafted and submitted for consideration.

In an interview with ministry of Technology, Science and Innovation (MoTS) ,government discloses that as of now," the development of the communication strategy is a 'grey area'.

MoTS Director Technology Science and Innovation Jane Chinkusu says government has not agreed with its key quasi departments, which of them will spearhead the process.

Ms. Chinkusu adds that her ministry has only concentrated on developing the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)  policy.
"From the ministry,we have not been working on the communication strategy because we are doing the STI policy," Ms. Chinkusu said.

Meanwhile she emphasises that it is not possible for the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) to spearhead the process as it is a regulator of biosafety in the country adding that the possibility is therefore,left with the National Science and Technology (NSTC).

But when contacted for a comment, NSTC could not be reached at press time.

And Ms. Chinkusu clarifies AUDA-NEPAD's participation in the process saying the AU science, technology and innovation branch was merely educating Zambia on the possibility and importance of having such innovative technologies in the agriculture sector.

Unlike the GM process which involves the introduction of organism that possesses a novel combination of genes ,genome-editing uses targeted specific manipulation by knocking out or replacing targeted genes within the organism, which results in model organisms with intentionally selected and desired traits.

Conversely, transgenic technology randomly integrates foreign DNA into the genome of a model organism in order to introduce new traits.

In 2002,Republican President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa surprised the world when his government declined to accept the GM maize from the United States of America after  Zambia was seriously hit with worst droughts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ZAMBIA'S CLIMATE FINANCING UTILISATION LACKS TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY

Image
ZAMBIA'S CLIMATE FINANCING UTILISATION LACKS TRANSPARENCY,  ACCOUNTABILITY ...hence prone to corruption risks,posing threats against building climate change resilience, TIZ report reviews. By Alfonso Kasongo Zambia's quest to remain climate change resilient might veer off course, if gaps such as weak climate regulatory frameworks, corruption risks and lack of transparency in the management of climate financing remain unaddressed. Ànd tackling of how the country supports mitigation and adaptation to climate change remain critical to building resilience to the worst effects. Climate resilient is generally defined as successfully copying with and managing the impacts of climate change while preventing those impacts from growing worse. This year's unprecedented global temperatures and stark devastating of climate change stress the urgency requirement for Zambia and many other countries to build climate resilience, hence the need for strong regulatory framework and transparency
Read more

US$200,000 CASSAVA TECH. PROJECT ELATES DSaT

Image
US$200,000 CASSAVA TECHNICAL PROJECT ELATES DSaT By Alfonso Kasongo    Government with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has launched USD 200,000 Cassava technical coorperation project aimed at mitigating the spread of Cassava Brown Streak (CBSD) and Mosaic disease in Luapula and Northern provinces of Zambia. The investment has elated Dziwa Science and Technology Trust (DSaT), a Zambian NGO promoting science communication and science based solutions to address country's socio-economic challenges.  Early last year, DSaT in collaboration with Zambia Agriculture Research Institute ZARI, Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Media and Information, supported by the Centre of Agriculture and Bioscience International  CABI facilitated a media training on Cassava Brown Streak Disease reporting where over 30 journalists drawn from across the country received the training.  The aim of the training was to equip journalists with knowledge on the CBSD so that they can ef
Read more

ZAMBIA LISTED AMONG 34 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE THAT EXPERIENCED DIGITAL AUTHORITATIVE RULE

Image
  By Alfonso Kasongo  The shutdown of internet to block access to social media during the 2021 general election has earned Zambia a slot among 34 countries worldwide that experienced digital authoritative rule last year. According to a research conducted by Keep It On ,182 internet shutdowns from 34 countries were last year recorded and are documented. Sadly 19 of the 34 countries are African countries, an indication of the return of the digital authoritatism. The report  discloses that the Zambian authorities shutdown the Internet during the the tight 2021 general election to block access to social media platforms which  include among others WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.   The report however ,suggests that the country experienced digital authoritative rule which undermined the democracy of the country.    It further notes with pleasure that the shut down was fought swiftly by Chapter One Foundation through the court of law and that the High  Court ruling remains a precede
Read more