Monty Jones, PhD

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STATUS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA

• Monty Jones, PhD
• Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
• 1st All Africa Biotech Congress in Africa
• ABNETA-ABSF
• Nairobi, Kenya
• 22-26 September, 2008

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INTRODUCTION

• At current estimates of 1.5 tonnes/ha and current
  population growth rates, SSA is estimated to have
  a grain shortage of 88.7 million tonnes by 2025
  (FAO, 2005). The production gap between
  developing countries and the developed world is
  continuously widening.

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INTRODUCTION

• One way to increase food security in Africa is to
  promote the use of biotechnology in agriculture
  on the continent.
• Given the phenomenal growth in the production of
  biotech crops (ISAAA 2007 Brief) in safety over
  the past 11 years, greater advocacy has gone into
  promoting the use of the technology in
  agriculture.

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INTRODUCTION

• The Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations in the
  July, 2008 meeting in Japan in their endorsement
  of modern biotechnology in agriculture have
  agreed to "promote science-based risk analysis
  including the contribution of seed varieties
  developed through biotechnology." (www.isis.com).
• Initiatives reported here will reveal the growing
  awareness and increased effort to develop the
  capacity for the safe use of modern biotechnology
  in Africas agriculture.

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• AU BMZ Biosafety Initiative. 3Years. Started in
  2006. So far achieved
• -The establishment of the Biosafety Unit
  within the HRST Department.
• -The development of the African Model Law on
  Biosafety
• -The establishment of the High Level African
  Panel on Modern Biotechnology
• -The development of the African Strategy on
  Biosafety.

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• High Level African Panel on Biotechnology.
• -Recommendations endorsed by AMCOST.
• -AU Heads of State January 2007 declared a
  20-year strategy on African biotechnology with
  specific regional technology goals and to
• - develop and harmonize national and regional
  regulations that promote the application and safe
  use of modern biotechnology.

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• Other recommendations of the Panel involve the
  establishment of the following Regional
  Innovation Communities
• -Southern Africa Health Biotechnology
• -Central Africa Forest Biotechnology
• -East Africa Animal Biotechnology
• -West Africa Crop Biotechnology
• -North Africa Bio-pharmaceuticals
• Africas Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) for
  Science, Technology and Innovation (2006-2010)
  has biotech., biodiversity and indigenous
  knowledge cluster as one of its 13 programmes.
  These 3 make up the African Biosciences
  Initiative (ABI)

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• AU-NEPAD
• -Africa Biosciences Initiative (ABI) under
  AU-NEPAD has created 4 bioscience network centers
  to drive the development of biotechnology and
  other biosciences in Africa. These centers are
• -the BecaNet (Biosciences East and Central
  Africa Network) in Nairobi, Kenya,
• -SanBio (South Africa Biosciences Network) in
  Pretoria, South Africa,
• - WABNet (West African Biosciences Network) in
  Dakar, Senegal
• - NABNet (North African Biosciences Network) in
  Cairo, Egypt.

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• AU-NEPAD
• -Established recently (2008) the Africa
  Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE) to
  aggressively support capacity building in
  biosafety in Africa. BMGF providing financial
  support.
• -This will be based in Burkina Faso in West
  Africa with nodes in other sub-regions of the
  continent.

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• REC Initiatives
• The relevant Regional Economic Communities
  (RECs) of Africa are
• The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
  
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
  (COMESA).
• Economic Community of West African States
  (ECOWAS).
• East African Community (ECA).
• Economic Community of Central African States
  (ECCAS)
• Arab Magreb Union (AMU)

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• REC Initiatives
• The common goal of the RECs is to
• -harmonise biosafety
• -develop regional regulatory approach
• -coordinate research and development in biotech
  and biosafety.
• Nearly all are at the planning stage though the
  AMU is yet to start.

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POLICY INITIATIVES

• SUB-REGIONAL RES. ORGS. (SROs)
• -ASARECA
• It has a competitive grant program in
  agricultural biotechnology research for member
  countries.
• -CORAF/WECARD
• This is to implement the biotechnology plan for
  the ECOWAS member countries.
• INSAH (Institut de Sahel), the technical wing of
  CILSS is developing the harmonised biosafety plan
  for the ECOWAS countries.
• -Others, SADC/FANR and AARINENA are yet to
  outdoor their biotech/biosafety plans.

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COUNTRY STATUS OF BIOSAFETY LEGISLATION

• Most countries in Africa (about 38) have ratified
  the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) and
  have received UNEP-GEF assistance to formulate
  their biosafety frameworks.
• Only a few (about a dozen) have functioning
  biosafety legislation that allows the conduct of
  field trials on GM products (South Africa,
  Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,
  Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia,
  Morocco, Mauritania).
• Only Burkina Faso, Egypt and South Africa have
  legislation that will allow the commercialization
  of GM crops.

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COUNTRY BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
STATUS

• The biotechnology tools that may be used in
  research are tissue culture and molecular
  techniques. The molecular techniques are
• DNA fingerprinting or characterization,
• marker assisted selection (MAS),
• molecular diagnostics and
• genetic engineering/transformation/genetic
  modification. Genetic engineering (GE) is applied
  in the production of genetically modified crops
  or recombinant vaccines.

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COUNTRY BIOTECHNOLOGY RD STATUS

• Tissue culture techniques are in use in many
  countries for rapid multiplication of
  vegetatively propagated plant material.
• - successful private companies use the tool
  routinely to produce bananas, pineapples, and
  root crops.
• Fewer countries use biotechnology tools as one
  moves the ladder from tissue culture to more
  advanced molecular techniques such as
  transformation.

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REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

• FARA
• -The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
  (FARA) is the umbrella organization for
  coordinating agricultural research activities in
  Africa.
• -FARAs mission is to create broad-based
  improvements in agricultural productivity,
  competitiveness and markets by supporting the
  SROs in strengthening Africas capacity for
  agricultural innovation.
• -FARA does not undertake research but
  facilitates it at the SRO and NARS level.

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REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

• FARA strategic plan 2007-2016 introduces 5
  Networking Support Functions that correspond to
  the Results that FARA envisions to achieve. These
  functions inter-relate and are
• -Advocacy and resource mobilization (NSF1)
• -Access to knowledge and technologies (NSF 2)
• -Regional Policies and Markets (NSF 3)
• -Capacity Strengthening (NSF 4)
• -Partnership and Strategic Alliances (NSF 5)
• The African Biotechnology Biosafety Policy
  Platform (ABBPP) is under NSF 3.

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REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

• FARA
• The ABBPP objectives are to
• Help sub-regions to prepare for significant
  international events concerned with biotechnology
  and biosafety.
• Build the necessary political awareness on the
  potential role of biotechnology in alleviating
  hunger in Africa and the need for biosafety
  policies and legislation.
• Support capacity building in biotechnology
• The ABBPP will be launched when negotiations with
  prospective development partners are concluded.

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REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

• AATF
• AATF is a non-profit Foundation designed to
  facilitate and promote public/private
  partnerships for the access and delivery of
  proprietary agricultural technologies for use by
  resource-poor smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan
  Africa.
• AATF projects
• Striga control in Maize
• Cowpea productivity improvement
• Protecting Bananas and Plantain from Bacterial
  Wilt Disease
• Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA)

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REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

• PBS
• PBS (Program for Biosafety Systems) is a USAID
  initiative coordinated by IFPRI to build capacity
  for science-based decisions on GMOs.
• PBS operates in sub-Sahara Africa (Ghana, Mali,
  Kenya, Uganda, Malawi), Asia and S.E. Asia.
• In Africa, PBS has assisted with
• -biosafety legislation development,
• -training in biosafety and risk communication.

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REGIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

• ABSPII
• The Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project
  II (ABSPII), funded by the USAID and coordinated
  by Cornell University is the sister project to
  the PBS.
• In Africa, ABSPII operates in Uganda, Kenya and
  Mali.
• ABSPII is helping in Uganda to develop the black
  sigatoka resistant GM banana as well nematode
  resistant GM banana.
• In Mali it is helping the NARS to develop tomato
  that is resistant to the Yellow Leaf Curl Virus.

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NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS(NGOs)

• Some of the prominent NGOs in Africa that support
  biotechnology include AfricaBio, ISAAA, ABSF and
  AHBFI. A few such as Greenpeace and GRAIN that
  have serious reservations about GM in agriculture
  are active in many African countries.

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PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP AND TRADE
REQUIREMENTS

• To attract foreign direct investment into GM
  commodities the following environment should
  prevail
• Presence of biosafety legislation/ regulations/
  guidelines
• IP Protection
• Market demand for new traits

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PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP AND TRADE
REQUIREMENTS

• For purposes of international trade, most
  importing countries demand that GM crops be
  labeled. The threshold levels beyond which food
  products must be labeled as GM are
• 0.9 for the EU
• 5 for Japan
• 3 for South Korea
• 1 for Australia and New Zealand.
• This will put pressure on African exporters of GM
  commodities to these countries. It will have cost
  implications.

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CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD

• To move modern biotechnology forward African
  countries must
• - get their regulatory frameworks for biosafety
  in place.
• -provide funding to implement the many
  initiatives drawn.
• -train in risk assessment, management and
  communication
• -train in biotechnology and provide laboratory
  infrastructure for product development.
• -provide incentives to keep trained staff on the
  job.

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CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD

• Develop a co-evolutionary approach to modern
  biotechnology whereby biosafety is in tandem with
  advancement in modern biotechnology development.
• For effectiveness and sustainability, modern
  biotechnology should complement conventional
  technologies in a policy framework that addresses
  the seed sector, various agro-inputs, credit, the
  market sector and generalized rural development.

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Thank you
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