On November 21st, 2018, the Ministry of Agricultural of Tanzania has instructed the Tanzania Institute for Agricultural Research (TARI) to terminate Genetic Modified Organism-GMOs at its research centers.
In addition, it has ordered TARI to destroy with all remainders of the experiments on GMOs.
The action was taken after the Institute began to disseminate the results of its researches on GMOs without obtaining government approval.
Tanzania has been carrying out GM seeds confined field trials for maize in Makutopora in Dodoma Region and for cassava at the Mikocheni Agriculture Research Institute in Dar es Salaam.
TARI started trials in Makutopora in 2016 and were at an advanced stage of release of the results for demonstration, while the trials in Mikocheni were ongoing.
Local media reported that members of the research community were in shock at the government’s abrupt decision, arguing that it will set back by over a decade the country’s efforts to advance in biotechnology.
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