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

Other field trials are underway in Uganda on Bt cotton
and water-use-efficient maize. Other R&D is targeting rice
(nitrogen-use-efficient and salt-tolerant), sweet potato
(disease resistance) and groundnut (disease resistance).
As elsewhere, the continuing challenges include the need
to develop human resources capacity, create supportive
policy and regulatory environments for innovation
and commercialisation, ensure continuity in laboratory
supplies and services and in research funding, and
improve public awareness (hosting laboratory visits have
been successful in this regard). Training programmes
at national and regional levels are vitally important,
including training for the regulatory bodies. International
partnerships are also very important in sustaining R&D but
such partnerships rarely now involve the EU.
3. R. Abdallah (Arusha, Tanzania), ‘Preparedness of
Tanzania to utilize genetically modified technology’
Significant progress has been made in Tanzania in the
routine application of techniques such as tissue culture
and micropropagation, for banana and cashew, in
marker-assisted breeding, and in developing skills in
genomics and bioinformatics. Many GM applications
can be envisaged to tackle biotic and abiotic challenges.
The government has established the National Biosafety
Framework that specifies the legal and institutional
requirements for GMO applications but there is limited
public understanding of the Framework and benefits of
GM technology, which leads to uncertainty in decision
making and adoption of the technology.
Many researchers consider that the Biosafety Regulation
in Tanzania is too stringent. Only one GM project, on
cassava, in a contained environment is currently taking
place and this started before the Regulation was effected.
A water-efficient maize project is next in the pipeline.
In discussing how to facilitate progress, the priorities for
action were recommended to include the following:
• collective effort to increase public awareness of GM,
to build understanding that may lead to acceptance
and to encourage debate about which policies and
regulations need to be formulated and what research
needs to be supported;
• increased funding for R&D to build capacity;
• sustained support for regional and international
cooperation;
• development of less stringent biosafety regulations,
which may attract partners to work with scientists in
Tanzania;
• more research on GM technology to enhance the
decision-making process;
• responding to the challenge posed by activists from
outside the country who misinform the public and
create fears about the technology.
4. D.W. Miano (Kenya Agricultural Research Institute),
‘Virus resistant cassava (VIRCA) project and issues arising’
Cassava is a strategic crop for both food and income in
Africa and it is the second most important food crop, after
maize. Cassava productivity in Africa is lower than in South
America and Asia and it is significantly constrained by two
viral diseases: cassava brown streak disease and cassava
mosaic disease. Challenges to disease management arise
from the continuous presence of the virus, the attachment
of farmers to particular cultivars which are susceptible
and limited sources of resistance to the viruses. The Virus-
Resistant Cassava for Africa (VIRCA) project was initiated
to develop and deliver virus-resistant, farmer-preferred
cultivars with desirable agronomic and storage quality
attributes, using gene-silencing technology.
Scientific partnership between Kenya, Uganda and
the USA provided a project management structure,
constructed facilities, trained staff in the molecular
techniques and in plant virology and biosafety
compliance, data management and other necessary
generic skills. Proof-of-concept for target cultivars has
now been attained from an integrated programme
of nine confined field trials to assess disease severity
and virus incidence. A significant beneficial impact on
agronomic performance has been observed in terms
of disease severity. In the next phase, farmer-favoured
cultivars will be used for transformation, efficacy testing
and data collection to support regulatory approval and
commercialisation. At the same time, the project is
further engaging with stakeholders to communicate
about the virus-resistant varieties, and planning for their
dissemination to farmers in the region.
Discussion
Among cross-cutting issues emerging in wide-ranging
discussion in the workshop were the following.
Capacity-building in critical areas is needed together with
an enabling environment to secure the benefits from
implementing a new technology. Capacity-building covers
multiple dimensions, as follows.
• Regulatory capacity for sustainable technology
development and up-scaling. Most countries have
adopted, or in the process of doing so, some form of
biosafety regulation: a useful basis for subsequent
improvement.
• Communication capacity to inform farmers about
the latest information so that they can make up
their own minds about implementation, and
to inform the public as potential consumers of
54 | June 2013 | Planting the future EASAC