Florence Wambugu

Florence Muringi Wambugu (born 23 August , 1953 in Nyeri County) is a Kenyan plant pathologist and virologist. She is known for her advocacy of using biotechnology to increase food production in Africa. Quotes It is time for Africa to begin thinking and operating as a stakeholder, rather than accepting the ‘victim mentality’ created by opponents of biotechnology. The priority of Africa must be to food its people and to sustain agricultural production and the environment. It’s unsustainable to depend on imports. A country depending on imported food cannot grow. Let us first invest in high-yielding varieties and bring in investors to put money into irrigation systems and soil fertility, that is make fertiliser cheaper by producing it locally. Then educate farmers on how to store the surplus harvest to avoid losses. Then increase mechanisation in ploughing and processing the harvests. For instance, instead of farmers doing manual shelling of groundnuts, they use a machine. Companies import because they cannot get timely delivery of adequate and quality supply of required volumes. If we organise farmers into groups and train them in producing huge volumes of adequate produce, we will reduce imports like rice; 80 per cent of rice consumed in Kenya is imported. External links Category:Virologists Category:Women scientists from Kenya Category:1953 births Category:Women born in the 1950s Category:Living people