Joy News’ Opoku Gakpo to speak about Armyworm invasion at US University

Multimedia Group Limited journalist Joseph Opoku Gakpo will on Thursday speak at Ivy League institution, Cornell University about the recent Fall Armyworm Invasion in Africa.

The award-winning journalist will be speaking at the Environmental Justice Series organized by environment focused group, Cornell Environmental Collaborative and ‘Ghanaians at Cornell’ on the campus of the school located in Ithaca – New York State – USA.

Two Joy News’ Hotline documentaries produced by the reporter, Rampaging Soldiers and Poison on the Menu, will be screened at the event.

‘Rampaging Soldiers’ which was aired in August this year on JOYNEWS on MultiTV discusses the spread of Fall Armyworm (a pest native to America which was first detected in Africa last year) on farms across Ghana. It also focused on the dependence on pesticides to deal with them.

‘Poison on the Menu’ tells the story of increasing cases of food poisoning as a result of the misuse of chemicals.

The event is under the theme: “Fighting Invasive Pests on African Farms: Are there alternatives to chemical application”?

After the documentaries are screened, the students will host Joseph Opoku Gakpo and other experts from Tanzania and Uganda for a discussion on possible alternatives to deal with the pests. The panel will also discuss how to sustain a healthy food chain in Africa, even in the light of the fall armyworm invasion.

Clet Masiga, a Research Scientist at the Tropical Institute of Development Innovations in Uganda and Philibert Nyinondi, a Researcher at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania will be the other discussants.

Organisers of the event could not hide their excitement about the upcoming event.

“A lot of students here are environmentally conscious and so it’s going to be great… I think we are going to have a good turn out,” Nana Britwum, Co-President of Ghanaians at Cornell said ahead of the event.

“In a lot of my classes we talk about innovative pest management and it always seem like something taking place in the Western world… you don’t hear a lot about people in developing countries trying to combat heavy use of chemicals…. It will be good to hear about what’s happening on the other side,” Ms. Britwum added. 

Clay Davis, Vice President of Environmental Justice at Cornell Environmental Collaborative noted it will be a good learning experience for students.

“In my position here I am very interested in getting the broader Cornell community not only interested in these environmental justice issues around the world but also interested in how we can mobilize and help orient them towards developing solutions,” he explained.

“There are a lot of students with interest in environmental issues but don’t have as much exposure to information that’s coming from a lot of the places and so fostering this connection is really helpful,” he added.

 

 

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