OPPORTUNITIES FOR BIOTECH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: ISSUES AND OPTIONS

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OPPORTUNITIES FOR BIOTECH RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA ISSUES AND OPTIONS

• UN ECA, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• March 2008
• Prof. Walter S. Alhassan
• PBS Coordinator for West Africa
• FARA/PBS, Accra, Ghana.

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INTRODUCTION

• The 8th AU summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
  in January, 2007, endorsed
• the development of a 20-year African
  Biotechnology Strategy with specific regional
  technology goals, and to develop and harmonize
  national and regional regulations that promote
  the application and safe use of modern
  biotechnology.
• This initiative should help to realize the MDGs
  of halving the number of poor and hungry people
  by 2015

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BENEFITS AND RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH BIOTECH

• Biotechnology has been defined as a set of tools
  that uses living organisms (or part of organisms)
  to make or modify a product, improve plants,
  trees or animals, or develop microorganisms for
  specific uses.

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Biotechnology Tools

• Tissue culture and micro-propagation
• Marker Assisted Selection
• Monoclonal Antibody for Diagnostics
• Genetic Engineering
• or Transformation or Recombinant DNA

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Biotechnology Tools

• Genetic engineering and GM crops
• Genetic engineering is a powerful tool that is
  used to move genes from one species into another
  by artificial means. The species may or may not
  be related. Wide species crossing that is
  possible with genetic engineering (GE) is almost
  impossible under natural means of hybridization.
  It raises safety concerns to the environment and
  human health

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Transgenic Product Development
Trait Discovery
Product Development
Commercialization
Transfor- mation
Line Selection
Variety Development
Field Production
Gene Discovery
GH Field Evaluation
Product Concept
Post Market
Market
Early safety evaluation
Agriculture - Regulation of field testing
Regulatory Approvals
Environment (DEAT)Exec. Council NEMA
Food (Dept of Health)Exec. Council
Product stewardship
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Benefits from GM technology

• As lessons of the Green Revolution have shown,
  its impact depends on three conditions
• first, that the technology is relevant to those
  farmers and affordable
• second, that the technology is scale neutral
• and third, that the existing socio-economic
  environment (such as access to markets,
  information or inputs) is not heavily biased
  against small-scale farms.

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Benefits associated with GM technology

• Plants may be genetically engineered to produce
• Own toxins e.g. Bt proteins
• Herbicide tolerance
• Drought tolerance
• Disease resistance
• Nutrient improvement
• Efficient nitrogen utilization
• Powerful diagnostic tools

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Benefits associated with GM technology

• Products on the horizon from gene technology that
  will revolutionize agriculture in Africa for the
  poor are drought tolerant and nitrogen efficient
  crops and biofortified crops.
• An on-going initiative in Africa for
  biofortification is the biofortified sorghum
  project financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates
  Foundation and coordinated by Africa Harvest.

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Secondary Benefits

• Reduced carbon emission zero tillage
• Water conservation- drought tolerant crops
• Reduces soil degradation-zero tillage
• Reduces Nitrogen fertilizer use from
  nitrogen-efficient crops
• Enhanced biofuel production
• Healthier farm labour from reduced pesticide use.

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PERCEIVED RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH GMOS IN
AGRICULTURE

• Change in biodiversity from gene flow
• Human health- toxicity and allergenecity
• Social implications from the effect on
  biodiversity loss of livelihood perceived
  dominance from multi-nationals.
• Mitigating approaches
• Containment and confinement
• Genetic manipulation such as chloroplast
  transformation and GURT or Terminator technology.
  No Terminator Gene product on the market yet.

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GLOBAL STATUS OF BIOTECH CROPS 2007

• The phenomenal growth in the cultivation of GM or
  biotech crops that was noticed in the first
  decade (1996-2005) continues into the second
  decade (2006-2015). The 2007 world status of GM
  crops shows a 12 or 12.3 million hectares in
  the cultivation of GM crops over the 2006.
  Currently 114.3 million hectares (James, 2007).
• The crops grown are roundup ready soybean, Bt
  maize, Bt cotton and Bt canola.
• South Africa, the only country in Africa
  commercializing GM crops in 2007 cultivated 1.8
  million hectares of GM crops most of which is
  white maize used for food and the remainder
  cotton. All categories of farmers in South Africa
  grow biotech crops.
• Burkina Faso is expected to commercialise Bt
  cotton this year.

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OPPORTUNITIES FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

• Persistent low yield of cereals around 1 mt/ha.
• Existence of biotic and abiotic stresses.
• In sub-Sahara Africa, various sub-regional
  institutions exist that address capacity building
  in biotechnology and biosafety.
• Positive pronouncements on biotechnology
  development.

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Sub-regional initiativesWest Africa

• CORAF/WECARD
• ECOWAS
• The objective of the ECOWAS plan is to establish
  a regional approach to biotechnology and
  biosafety.
• The implementing agent for this on behalf of
  ECOWAS is the INSAH/CILSS.
• CILSS/INSAH
• - the Framework Convention Introducing a Common
  Biosafety Regulation for the Prevention of
  Biotechnology Risks,
• -Framework Convention Instituting Common
  Regulations for Conventional and Transgenic Seeds
  and
• -the Structure and Operation of the Regional
  Consultative Committee for Seeds and Biosafety.

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Sub-regional initiativesWest Africa

• West Africa Regional Biosafety Project
• The objective of the project is to establish a
  regional capability in biosafety among the
  francophone economic union in West Africa, the
  West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
  This is a 4-year 4,500 project to be funded by
  the Global Environment Facility for the benefit
  of 5 of the 8 countries forming the WAEMU
  (www.gefweb.org/documents/council_documents).

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Sub-regional initiativesEast Africa

• RABESA INITIATIVE
• The Regional Approach to Biotechnology and
  Biosafety Policy in Eastern and Southern Africa
  (RABESA) is a COMESA driven project designed to
  examine the implications of modern
  biotechnology on trade, food security and access
  to emergency food aid.
• This is a 2-year initiative from 2004 to 2006. It
  involved six countries- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,
  Ethiopia, Egypt and Zambia.
• It findings were that with the exception of Egypt
  which exports about 47 of GM sensitive
  commodities to Europe the likely adverse impact
  of GM crops would be minimal.

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Sub-regional initiativesEast Africa

• BIO-EARN
• This is the East Africa Regional Programme and
  Research Network for Biotechnology, Biosafety and
  Biotechnology Policy Development (BIOEARN). It
  operates in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
• The capacity building phase (1999-2004) trains
  high level manpower up to the PhD level in
  various aspects of biotechnology.
• The Phase II (2006-2009) is designed to enhance
  agricultural productivity, clean water production
  and the reduction of environmental damage all
  applying biotechnology tools.

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Sub-regional initiativesSouthern Africa

• FANRPAN (the Food Agriculture Natural Resources
  Policy Research and Analysis Network) in SADC
  Region.
• It has two product lines, namely, agricultural
  biotechnology and biosafety issues and the
  improvement of food security in the SADC Region.
  Pilot or trial countries Malawi, Mauritius and
  South Africa

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Sub-regional initiativesSouthern Africa

• Key Lessons from FANRPAN are that
• Most Countries in SADC, except SA, still taking a
  precautionary approach
• Need to integrate social scientists into GMO
  research and promotion social marketing
• Embrace opposition through multi-stakeholder
  dialogues that highlight benefits and respond
  accurately to concerns
• Policy Briefs for decision makers
• Strategic partnerships and institutional
  arrangements -
• Building credibility and legitimacy through
  evidence-based research
• and a robust communication strategy

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AFRICA WIDE INITIATIVES

• Manpower Training Initiatives
• the Rockefeller Foundation Initiative in Capacity
  Building in AfricaMSc and PhD. Molecular
  Breeding, Conventional Plant Breeding. Focus is
  East Africa.
• West Africa Crop Improvement Initiative (WACCI)
• PhD in conventional Plant Breeding. To be
  launched on March 11 08. Funded by RF and
  Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation.

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AFRICA WIDE INITIATIVES

• FARA ABBI
• The African Biotechnology and Biosafety
  Initiative (ABBI) is one of the network support
  projects of FARA. Will create a forum where
  various sub-regions can share information and
  experiences on agricultural biotechnology and
  biosafety.
• NEPAD Biosciences Centers
• A network of bioscience laboratories and
  expertise in the biosciences has been established
  in the 4 sub-regions of Africa. Except for the
  one in Eastern Africa, BECA, these have been
  newly established and yet to start program
  implementation.

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AFRICA WIDE INITIATIVES

• PBS
• This is a 5-year capacity building program in
  biosafety funded by the USAID. It started in
  2003.
• ABSPII
• This also started in 2003 as a sister project to
  the PBS. It is designed to build capacity in the
  introduction of near term biotechnology products
  or services. Assisted the Uganda black sigatoka
  resistant GM banana development and field testing
  and in the tomato YLCV virus control project in
  Mali and selected WA countries.
• AATF
• This is a public-private sector non-profit
  initiative that facilitates the negotiation and
  transfer proprietary technologies on a
  royalty-free basis for the development of
  agriculture for the benefit of the resource-poor
  farmers and others in Africa. Bt gene from
  Monsanto cowpea.

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LESSONS FROM OTHER DEVELOPING WORLD

• China with the exception of some varieties of Bt
  cotton, all the biotech crops commercialized in
  China have been developed by Chinese state
  institutions with public sector funding.
• Argentina the rapid adoption of RR-soybean due
  in part to
• -a well-established seed industry,
• -a regulatory system that provided a responsible
  timely and cost-effective system for approving
  biotech products and
• -a technology with high impact.
• Brazil high political will and support for
  biotechnology. Recent funding equivalent to US7
  billion (60 and 40 private) and prorated at
  US700 million per year for the next 10 years has
  been announced.

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WAY FORWARD

• Africa needs to re-double its efforts in the
  acquisition of the capacity for the judicious
  utilization of all the tools of modern
  biotechnology to solve the farming problems of
  the sub-region. The following holistic
  arrangements must be harnessed as the way
  forward
• User friendly Biosafety Legislative framework in
  place,
• Vigorous training of scientists, technicians and
  the provision of functional laboratories
• Enhanced service conditions
• Development of a viable seed sector
• Credit and input supply facilitation for
  agriculture

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WAY FORWARD

• market infrastructure development and stimulation
  of inter-African trade.
• Increased budgetary allocation to agriculture and
  rural development
• increased south-south and north-south
  collaboration in science and technology with the
  emphasis on biotechnology.
• A country strategically placing itself in the
  forefront of science and technology cannot afford
  not to have research programmes in agricultural
  biotechnology. A country that does otherwise may
  miss the gene revolution.

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• THANK YOU!!!