Contact: Maridith Geuder
The East African country that is home to famed Mount Kilimanjaro is beginning to benefit from a two-year research collaboration with Mississippi State University.
The partnership between MSU and the United Republic of Tanzania's largest public university involves the sharing of information and expertise on the management and proper disposal of pesticides. The United States Agency for International Development provided funding for the project.
Launched in 1998 by MSU's Center for International Security and Strategic Studies, the cooperative effort ends this month with a visit to Mississippi by project director Msafiri Jackson, head of environmental engineering at the University College for Lands and Architectural Studies.
A branch of the University of Dar es Salaam, Jackson's campus is a leading force in the region for agricultural research and development, said project director Paul Kaiser, an associate professor in MSU's political science department.
During his May 15-21 trip to the state, Jackson will review the project with Mississippi State faculty and staff, as well as with key officials of the state departments of Health and Environmental Quality.
"There are many agricultural similarities between our state and Tanzania," Kaiser said. "In both, pesticides are a common issue. While Mississippi has done a good job of eradicating obsolete pesticides, Tanzania is just coming to terms with the issue."
The partnership has brought together interdisciplinary experts from MSU and the state to help their Tanzanian counterparts develop public policies and guidelines, as well as the necessary facilities, to safely dispose of a variety of chemicals used to destroy plant and animal pests.
"A major goal of the project is to develop a sound strategy for dealing with the disposal of obsolete pesticides and the prevention of further pesticide accumulation in Tanzania," Kaiser said. The project is consistent with USAID's goal of preserving the natural environment in the country, he added.
In addition to Kaiser, major Mississippi participants in the project include Robert McCarty, director of the state Department of Agriculture and Commerce's Bureau of Plant Industry, and Melvin Ray and Dennis Truax of MSU. Ray is special assistant to President Malcolm Portera, while Truax is a professor of civil engineering.
Aside from the environmental improvement, Kaiser said the project has created a wide range of cross-national learning opportunities for students at both schools who assisted in the research.
"We hope this effort will contribute to the development to an entirely new generation of pesticides experts," he said.