Friday, March 29, 2024

Sensitise the public on Cassava Brown Streak Disease –Media urged

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Ministry of Agriculture has called on stakeholders to enhance collaboration with media experts in effective information dissemination on the Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD).

The Cassava Brown Streak Disease is a disease that affects the Cassava Crop which was first detected in Northern and Luapula  Provinces of Zambia in 2017.

Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Green Mbozi said government is concerned with the CBSD because it poses major challenges to food security in the country.

Mr. Mbozi said in a speech read on his behalf by Director of Agriculture, Chizumba Shepande during a media training workshop on Cassava Brown Streak Disease in Chilanga District at Mount Makulu Research Station.

Mr.Mbozi noted that breading cassava varieties conferring resistance to CBDS is the best option to curtail the spread of the disease which can be achieved through research by the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI).

“The government acknowledges the need for improved research as a critical means for development in Zambia.

Equally the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are anchored on science. Therefore government elevates the need for communication in these areas to be significantly enhanced and mainstreamed for economic expansion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary, Kennedy Kulunga urged media practitioners to spread awareness on the CBSD bases on factual information in order to avoid alarming members of the general public.

Mr.Kalunga also thanked  Center for Agriculture Bioscience (CABI) for organizing the media training workshop on Cassava Brown Streak Disease aimed at impacting knowledge in the media practitioners to ensure that they spread awareness on the disease.

“I would like to thank CABI for organizing the media training workshop on CBSD aimed at capacity building of Journalists on the disease to enable them disseminate information which is factual because  misinformation can cause alarm to members of the general public and farmers,” he said.

2 COMMENTS

  1. THEY WILL BE GIVEN ALL THE ADVISE NEEDED
    AFTER AGRICULTURE WAS NEGLECTED IN THE PAST
    ARE WE FORGETTING ITS A NEW DAWN ?

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