African govts asked to prioritise biotechnology research

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African governments have been urged to prioritise investment in biotechnology research and development to address pressing challenges in the sector.

Challenges being experienced in the agricultural sector include climate change, pests and diseases, and declining soil fertility.

The call was made to African ministers from six countries, including Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Eswatini during a ministerial roundtable dialogue held on the sidelines of the African Food Systems in Kigali, Rwanda, on September 4, 2024.

The heads of state said there is a need to harmonise policies and guidelines across the continent to strengthen regional co-operation in biotechnology research, development and trade.

They also called for the harmonisation of policies to ease research work by facilitating data transportability and expedite transparent decision making in biotech regulatory processes.

These calls to action emerged from a three-day convening of African researchers in Kigali, Rwanda, from August 28-30, where they deliberated on the state of agricultural biotechnology research in Africa.

The researchers noted that Africa’s agriculture has the least integration of biotech applications due to inadequate investment in research, development and commercialisation of biotech products.

Former Nigerian president Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and 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,” he said.

Jonathan believes 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 $70b.

“Technology will further help in addressing the impacts of pests and diseases which are on the rise due to climate change and address nutrition needs of the continent,” he added.

According to Rwanda agriculture minister Dr Ildephonse Musafiri, the integration of technology into agriculture to modernise farming in Africa is crucial to the desired transformative change needed to improve agri-food systems.

Dr Canisius Kanangire, the executive director of AATF, said Africa’s agriculture requires investment in agricultural technologies from the national budgets.

“There is a need to increase funding for research and innovation through direct funding from national budgets on which private financing can leverage for greater and scalable impacts and research sovereignty,” Kanangire said.

He challenged the ministers to prioritise biotechnology capacity strengthening to train more local experts and provide incentives to undertake biotechnology entrepreneurship.

“Local experts will prioritise biotechnology solutions for local problems,” he quipped, adding 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 (STI) will help reduce over-dependence on international expertise and enhance the bargaining power on intellectual property right.

In conclusion, the ministerial roundtable dialogue emphasised the need for regulatory oversight to build trust by establishing strong frameworks that ensure the safe and responsible use of GMOs, as well as fostering trust in institutions responsible for regulating biotechnologies