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Update on
Agricultural Biotechnology Project for Underserved Communities
F. Tegegne,
A. Aziz, R. Sauve, S. Muhammad, and E. Ekanem
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research
Seminar Series
Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
January 21, 2004
This project
is an effort by eleven 1890 Land grant institutions to assess the
circumstances regarding knowledge about biotechnology and its use. In
each state, five rural counties with average income of less than the
state average were selected. The objectives of the project are: (1)
Education focusing on training teachers and students in Biotechnology
techniques; (2) Commodity trials on campus farms and farmers
demonstration plots; (3) Community awareness through presentation of
results to various stakeholders and; (4) Socioeconomic Studies to assess
consumers perception, and acceptance of products produced using
biotechnology and adoption of the technology by producers in underserved
communities.
Alabama A &
M University is the lead institution and project implementation utilizes
four consortium level committees and campus project coordinators. There
is also project advisory body consisting of faculty from other land
grant Universities, and collaborators from the private sector. In
addition, project activities are subject to internal and external
evaluation.
In the last
three years, the project has accomplished a number of activities. They
include providing summer Biotechnology training workshops for high
school teachers and student interns; trials of biotech crops both on the
TSU farm and on farmers plots in five counties, survey of producers and
consumers regarding the technology and presenting results at various
forums such as annual meetings of the Southern Association of
Agricultural Scientists (SAAS), the Food Distribution Research Society (FDRS),
Association of Research Directors' Symposium (ARD), Tennessee Science
Teachers Association (TSTA), TSU Research Symposium, and to groups of
visiting science teachers from across the country.
The following
activities are planned for the coming year:
• Analyze consumer survey data
• Administer college student survey
• Conduct more on farm demonstrations
• Provide training workshops for additional teachers
• Present results at various meetings
Results from
the project activities suggest the need to provide more education about
the technology to educators, consumers and producers using a concerted
effort by various groups.
Results of
project activities from all participating institutions can be found at
http://www.sacuc.subr.edu.
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