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Lowasa: Technology must lead to sustainable agriculture
2007-05-30 08:49:06
By Christina Mwangosi
Prime Minister Edward Lowasa yesterday said that technologies must not harm the land but instead save the environment and the health of consumers.
Officiating at the East African Regional Conference on Organic Agriculture, Trade and Marketing held in Dar es Salaam, Lowassa said that any technology introduced to the rural communities must lead to sustainable agriculture.
Lowassa said that crop production was the basis of life thus farming methods must secure the foundation of human existence.
He said organic agriculture system should ensure that its requirements are such that when applied may also solve many of the problems which the practice faces today.
`Organic agriculture not only saves the environment and health of consumers, but it is also a vital business and wealth creation opportunity that contributes to poverty reduction,` Lowassa said.
It has been estimated that the global market for organic products in 2006 was about USD25bn with USA, Europe and Japan, South East Asian countries and Latin America emerging the biggest, said the premier.
Lowassa launched the East African Organic Products Standards together with the East African Organic Mark that will be used on any product in the EAC countries.
The PM said the East African Organic Product Standards, which are aimed at encouraging trade in certified organic produce in the region would be the first regional standards in the developing world.
He said organic farms in East Africa produced and exported about 17,100 metric tonnes of various organic products because of the higher demand.
`We have to push for more education and sensitization to our farmers to realize that organic farming makes good economic sense,It is time to move to our rural areas and give them these options, to enable them realize the benefits of various technological innovations in agriculture,` he said.
The PM said there was a need to develop and propagate appropriate technologies for organic agriculture which included certified seeds, appropriate bio-pesticides, organic fertilisers and marketing facilities.
EAC countries have to ensure the access to natural pest management techniques such as promotion of biological control techniques which would reduce the burden of importing expensive pesticides at the cost of the farmers` health, he noted.
He said there must be provision for training of the much needed expertise as agents of change.
The conference has been organized by the Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (TOAM), National Organic Movement of Uganda, Kenya Organic Agriculture Network (KOAN), International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) and other NGOs.
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