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Biotech key to sustainable agriculture in Africa

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a tool of immense potential for transformation of agriculture.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

What you need to know:

  • Biotechnology is a versatile field that involves using biological systems to create products and solve problems.
  • Biotechnology is a tool of immense potential that has transformed agriculture in other parts of the world.

Biotechnology is one of the modern-day scientific innovations that are widely misunderstood, especially in Africa. Often regarded as a complex and mysterious field, biotechnology means different things to many people.

To a scientist in Africa, biotechnology is a versatile field that involves using biological systems to create products and solve problems in health, environment and agriculture. To the ordinary citizen on the street, biotechnology is genetically modified organisms.

The field, though perceived as recent, has been shaping the world from time immemorial. Its roots stretch back over 10,000 years ago in Africa, with one of its earliest documented uses emerging from ancient Egypt, on the banks of the Nile.

Around 4,000 BC, Egyptians were harnessing the power of biotechnology by using active yeast ingredients to bake bread and brew beer. This simple process of fermentation laid the foundation for the most complex biotechnological advancements we see today.

Creating awareness

The knowledge certainly wasn’t confined to Egypt, many other communities across Africa applied similar techniques during food processing and production. In Malawi and Kenya, for instance, such processes led to the development of local brews like chibuku and busaa, respectively.

Fast-forward to the 1980s, and biotechnology found itself at the centre of global attention with the landmark case in the US Supreme Court about the patenting of living micro-organisms. The case and the judgment ignited a surge in interest and investment in biotechnological research, culminating in the approval of the first biotech drug, insulin, by the Food and Drug Administration in 1981.

Despite these strides, in Africa, agricultural biotechnology is met with great mistrust. Organisations like the African Agricultural Technology Foundation through the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) have been pivotal in creating awareness and bridging the knowledge gap.

OFAB has facilitated the production and commercialisation of biotech crops like PBR cowpea and Bt cotton in Nigeria. Farmers in different parts of Kenya are already growing Bt cotton, which is resistant to the African bollworm, the most destructive cotton pest, while Bt maize was approved by the National Biosafety Authority in October 2022 and is awaiting the nod for commercialisation.

Nutritional needs

The need for such agricultural innovations is pressing across Africa because of the population increase, which for some countries such as Kenya and Malawi, has more than tripled since the 1980s. Africa’s population will be three billion in 2063, raising the need to adopt innovative agricultural production methods that will sufficiently meet the food and nutritional needs of the continent.

Feeding this growing population in the face of climate change, shrinking farm sizes and declining budgetary allocations require concerted effort to embrace science and technology.

Biotechnology is a tool of immense potential; one that has already transformed agriculture in other parts of the world where it has been fully embraced. In South Africa and Nigeria, genetic modification has enabled access to drought-tolerant and insect-resistant maize varieties.

The genetically modified cotton in Malawi has on average increased yield by more than three times compared to conventional varieties. In Nigeria, genetically modified cowpea is resistant to pod borer, which can devastate up to 90 per cent of the crop. Similar stories await Kenya when genetically modified maize will be deployed to farmers. 

It is clear that biotechnology holds the key to solving some of Africa’s most pressing challenges. The foundation has been laid, it’s up to us to build on it.

The writer is a project manager at Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology