Cotton production ceased due to pest problems
"Southern Tanzania has been hardest hit by the red bollworm that affects cotton growing and we are trying anything and everything to get a solution, including the use of genetically modified cotton ," gesticulates animatedly Shilla Osingi. "Since the 1960's no cotton has been grown in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, due to the this pest, and in 1968 the whole area was quarantined and farmers have lost an important cash crop."
You can actually see that this zealous pint-sized scientist is more than ready to do anything to help restoring Southern Tanzania's glory in growing cotton. He is 31 year old Shilla Osingi, a Tanzanian MSc student in Biotechnology at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Shilla's project
Shilla has a fellowship from the BiosafeTrain Project, and is working on a project related to the cotton problem in Tanzania's Southern Highlands.'
"The overall objective of my study is to establish the potential of hybridizations between wild cotton and cultivated varieties producing a viable F1 and to assess the likelihood of Lepidopterans harboring in cotton species," he says and I look a bit bewildered by the genetic terms, so he continues:
Wild cotton
First, I have to review and update existing information on the distribution of wild cotton species in Tanzania. Then, by doing field surveys, I shall check if there are hybrids in abandoned fields in the Southern Highlands. You can do this by using morphological characters like leaf shape, and so on. I also check how many species of Lepidoptera and which ones live on wild cotton. This will be important in case we introduce GM cotton, for resistance management. Finally, I shall do hybridization experiments between wild and cultivated cotton species to see if they produce seeds that are viable. This last will be done in the glasshouse.
"The findings will provide insight into the hybridization potential of wild with cultivated cotton and set grounds for pre-release risk assessment of Bt cotton and other GM crops in Tanzania. The finding from the Lepidopteran survey will help the development of improved pest management programs for Bt cotton as well as other GM crops. " He asserts.
The MSc program
This is an ambitious program, but Shilla, a research scientist with the Tropical Pesticide Research Institute (TPRI) in Arusha, is confident it can be done. He is on a scholarship from BiosafeTrain, and is working on an MSc program on Biotechnology in the University of Dar es Salaam. We met at the BiosafeTrain workshop in Nairobi in September 2006.
"I really needed this course," he emphasizes. "I want to increase my knowledge and I feel it is academically uplifting. It's absolutely within my field of work, which is in biotechnology."
Need for Bt cotton research trials
On the issue of GMO in Tanzania, he visibly and excitedly admits, "there's a need for the introduction, if not the trials of genetically modified crops in Southern Tanzania, particularly Chunya district in Mbeya. Cotton growing in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, due to the infestation of a pest called the red boll worm (Diparopsis castanea) has been impossible. This pest is believed to have come from Southern African states bordering Tanzania. The problem started during colonial period in the early 1940's and the first quarantine was held in 1947 and was lifted up in the early sixties and farmers tried to grow cotton again, but, to no avail hence the final quarantine in 1968 which is still in effect.
Research trials on cotton in Mbeya is meant to start sometime in 2007. "Now, as a research scientist of TPRI, my work will be to inspect the whole season of the introduced cotton from the time it is sown to harvested, so that it goes with the set rules and guidelines of TPRI on sowing to harvest," he stresses.
Other than biosafety , TPRI's objective is to certify all products that are either being imported or exported, for control of pests and diseases. "In also registers all pesticides coming into the country," he states.
Lacking information to farmers and public on Bt cotton
The farmers' perception of the quarantine and the later the introduction of Bt Cotton was very disconcerting. "There's lack of proper communication with the introduction of Bt cotton especially on what's intended to be done and what the benefits would be," he says.
"The Tanzanian government has formed committees to inform the public but is lagging behind , as there is no proper policy on biotechnology." "In my thesis I address the need of the nation's biotechnology policy. Which, unfortunately, is being delayed as people lack proper information about it. The government is not too keen to take it up as the infrastructure and facilities needed are very expensive hence research institutions are partnering with donor organizations to build biotechnology centers ."
The future
How does he see the future of biotechnology in Tanzania? "There is a need for it in third world countries other than its use in agriculture. Biotechnology can be a potential solution to some of the problems in several fields. In one way or another they should do biosafety research before applying the technology, however." he stresses.
From a career point of view Shilla would like to have more knowledge on biotechnology in various issues relating to agriculture and thus become helpful as a source of dissemination of biotechnology from one field to another.
In the future he would like to be a lobbyist on biotechnology in East Africa. He thinks that the East African community should have a joint venture to strengthen the capability or the use and knowledge of biotechnology. As he admits, "there are various benefits of biotechnology, for example Bt cotton, will not need the use of pesticides"
"There is also a need to inform the public on the different traits of genetically modified crops and how they work in relation to the solution they are trying to get for the affected crops," he adds.
There is also a need to include the public in decision making, contribution on genetically modified crops because the government is targeting the actual root of the problem, he completes, before going back to the conference room for his training.
By Joy Owango, November 2006.