Planting the future: opportunities and challenges for using ... - EASAC

Appendix 5
Perspectives from African countries on innovation
in agricultural biotechnology
In November 2012, NASAC and EASAC helped to
co-organise a workshop together with ATPS, the
African Technology Policy Studies network, and with
support from the John Templeton Foundation and the
Malaysian Cambridge Studies Centre (MCSC).
We would like to thank the MCSC and the John
Templeton Foundation for the small grants that helped
support this workshop on perspectives from African
countries. The opinions expressed in this publication are
those of EASAC and do not necessarily reflect the views
of the John Templeton Foundation.
This workshop provided an opportunity for academynominated
scientists to describe what is happening in
African agricultural biotechnology today, what are the
objectives for the future and how relationships with
the EU might be promoted. This appendix summarises
four presentations from the NASAC academynominated
scientists together with points raised in
general discussion by an audience of NASAC, EASAC
and ATPS scientists. Further information on other
presentations in this and other sessions is available
from http://www.atpsnet.org/media_centre/news/
article.php?article=122 (ATPS annual conference
and workshops “Emerging Paradigms, Technologies
and Innovations for Sustainable Development: global
Imperatives and African Realities”).
Presentations
1. W. Alhassan (Forum for Agricultural Research in
Africa, Accra, Ghana), ‘Current situation in GM
research and innovation on Ghana and the sub-region:
opportunities and challenges’
West Africa is a food insecure region, home to one in four
of the world’s under-nourished people. The application of
known technologies in agriculture coupled with modern
biotechnology, governed by a legislative framework that
generates an acceptable level of security, is needed to
increase farmers’ productivity.
In Burkina Faso, Bt cotton cultivation has provided
proof-of-concept to demonstrate that biotechnology
works. Current R&D in confined field trials is assessing
Bt cowpea (to tackle major pests, notably the Maruca
cowpea borer) and biofortified sorghum. In Nigeria,
biofortified cassava (supplementary carotene and
iron) and locally developed cultivars of Bt cowpea
and biofortified sorghum are in R&D, also in confined
field trials. In Ghana, following implementation of a
comprehensive Biosafety Law as enabling legislation,
candidate GM crops pending approval are
Maruca-resistant cowpea, nitrogen- and water-use
efficient, salt-tolerant rice and high-protein sweet
potato. Subsequent to the November 2012 Addis Ababa
meeting, permits for confined field trials for these crops
have been granted. According to farmer-defined needs,
there is also high future potential in Ghana for GM
cassava, black-sigatoka-resistant banana and plantain,
coconut resistant to lethal yellowing disease, and
cabbage resistant to diamond back moth.
To promote R&D and implement innovation across the
region, momentum has to be maintained in tackling key
challenges:
• accelerating enabling legislation;
• providing the supportive infrastructure and services,
including seed supply and markets;
• generating well-trained and motivated scientists, for
example with skills in plant breeding, crop protection
and biosafety;
• informing and advising smallholder farmers in
biotechnology stewardship for handling GM crops.
2. A. Kiggundu (National Agricultural Research
Laboratories, Kawanda, Uganda), ‘Current status of
GM research and innovation in Uganda’
Biotechnology is also regarded as one engine of
economic transformation in Uganda. In participatory
stakeholder discussions with farmers, it was clear that
traditional breeding has limitations for improving locally
preferred staple crops, many of which are vegetatively
propagated, highly sterile, and where key desired
traits are absent in the endogenous gene pools. The
development of biotechnology goals for Uganda
involved the following:
• identifying the problems where conventional breeding
has not been successful;
• acquiring capacity in terms of infrastructure and skilled
personnel;
• progressing technologies based on local crop varieties
and biosafety research capacities (contained testing in
greenhouse and confined field);
• testing for novel traits, in particular for banana
resistance to bacterial wilt, the weevil borer, black
sigatoka, and for micronutrient enhancement (betacarotene
and iron), and for cassava resistance to
mosaic virus and brown streak virus (see later).
EASAC Planting the future | June 2013 | 53