By Joyce Ojanji
African governments have been urged to prioritize investment in biotechnology research and development to address pressing challenges in the sector, including climate change, pests and diseases, and declining soil fertility.
The African ministers from six countries, including Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Eswatini called for harmonizing policies and guidelines across the continent to strengthen regional cooperation in biotechnology research, development, and trade during a three-day convening of African researchers in Kigali Rwanda from 28-30 August.
During these calls to action, they deliberated on the state of agricultural biotechnology research in Africa. The researchers explored challenges and made recommendations for improvement. The researchers noted that Africa’s agriculture has the least integration of biotech applications due to inadequate investment in research, development, and commercialization of biotech products.
Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) Africa Ambassador for Agricultural Technologies advised that African governments have strong regulatory and research capacity fit for international standards and there is no reason to doubt the outputs of their work.
‘’Africa has world class scientists and robust regulatory systems for biotechnology research and development, we therefore need to trust them that what they are doing is for the good of their countries and the African continent. I believe that technology is an important factor in agriculture production to meet the growing food requirements of the continent and reduce the food importation bill which currently stands at USD70 billion. Technology will further help in addressing the impacts of pests and diseases which are on the rise due to climate change and address the nutrition needs of the continent,’’ he said.
Additionally, Dr Canisius Kanangire, Executive Director of AATF, noted that Africa’s agriculture requires investment in agricultural technologies from the national budgets. He challenged the Ministers to prioritize biotechnology capacity strengthening to train more local experts and provide incentives to undertake biotechnology entrepreneurship.
“There is a need to increase funding for research and innovation through direct funding from national budgets which private financing can leverage for greater and scalable impacts and research sovereignty. Local experts will prioritize biotechnology solutions for local problems,” he said.
He added that local investment to fund the establishment of state-of-the-art infrastructure for research in biotech and other advances in science, technology and innovation (ST&I) will help reduce over-dependence on international expertise and enhance the bargaining power on intellectual property rights.
According to experts, Africa’s capacity to harness modern innovations is limited by a shortage of skilled personnel, inadequate infrastructure, and insufficient financial resources, all combining to prevent the continent from fully realizing the benefits of ST&I.
The ministerial roundtable dialogue emphasized the need for regulatory oversight to build trust by establishing strong frameworks that ensure the safe and responsible use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as well as fostering trust in institutions responsible for regulating biotechnologies.
