Kobie de Ronde Aug 2014

Agricultural Biotechnology Africa

2

Framework

● ensuring food security in Africa.

● potential tool in agricultural toolbox.

● Adoption of new and emerging technologies slow due to biosafety

regulatory frameworks status-policies, laws, regulations.

● Development and implementation of functional regulatory frameworks

vary greatly between countries.

● Brief overview of progress made in Africa regarding the adoption of

those regulatory frameworks and cultivation of biotechnology crops

public info

3

GM-specific challenges

● Anti-GM campaigns -anxieties about risks of consuming GM food are common

● Not attractive market opportunity for GM food.

● EU accepts GM crops as animal feed but not for consumer markets.

● Labelling requirements present trade barrier

● Concerns about saving seed or exchange seed.

● 46 African countries endorsed to the Cartagena protocol of Biosafety

● Strict liability conditions to GM products: meaning any party, corporate or individual, that

works with GM products is liable for any loss arising from use of these products.

This can include losses incurred if GM products contaminate non-GM products

does not require any fault to be proven and can apply despite the utmost exercise of

care.

inventors or owners of a GM technology can be deemed liable even if the technology is

provided as a public good.

● Lack of Science-based functional regulatory systems, inability to perform timely decision-

making and cost/time-effective regulatory systems - slow implementation

● Precautionary principle- too much emphasis on potential risks

public info

4

Political factors

● Biotechnology development pressured towards field-testing, slow progress further.

allows governments to manage political risks: balancing demands of pro- and anti-GM

lobbies

Promotion of GM pipeline versus slow movement to cultivation.

● Anti GM campaigns make politicians and policy-makers reluctant to progress biosafety

legislation or take decisions towards the release of biotechnologies

● Functioning biosafety regime is crucial for adoption -many countries that have biosafety

laws, have significant gap between legislation and implementation.

● Barriers for GM investors

non-existent, poorly functioning or highly restrictive biosafety regimes

unstable regulatory environment

Stringent liability laws in many countries

Weak seed stewardship

Low or non-existent commercial opportunit

risk of cross boundary movement - GM material could easily travel unregulated

● .

public info

5 public info

Countries generating and

commercializing

GM products

Countries engaged in

confined field trials

Countries engaged in

laboratory studies

4 17 20

South Africa, Egypt

Burkina Faso, North Sudan

Burkina Faso, Cameroon,

Egypt, Ghana, Kenya,

Lesotho, Malawi, Mali,

Mozambique, Nigeria,

South Africa, Swaziland,

North Sudan, Tanzania,

Uganda, Zambia,

Zimbabwe

Burkina Faso, Cameroon,

Egypt, Ghana, Iran,

Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho,

Malawi, Mali, Mauritius,

Mozambique, Nigeria,

South Africa, Swaziland,

North Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda,

Zambia, Zimbabwe

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GM cultivation in Africa: 2013 = 3.8 mil ha

2011 2012 2013

Country GM Crop area adoption ha adoption ha adoption

RSA (8th country

ref ISAAA)

corn 1 873 mil ha 72% 2.428 mil ha 86% 2.36 mil ha

56% white/

44% yellow

86.6% =>

28.4% Bt;

18.2% HT,

53.4% Bt/HT

soybean 383 000 ha 85% 450 000 ha 90% 0. 478 mil ha 92% =>

100% HT

cotton 15 000 ha 99% 11 000 ha 99% 8 000 ha 99% =>

95% Bt/HT,

5% HT

Burkina

Faso (14th)

cotton 247 000 ha >50% 313 781 ha 51% 0. 474 mil ha 68.6%

100% Bt

N Sudan (19th)

cotton 20 000 ha 61 530 ha 89%

100% Bt

Egypt corn 2800 ha 1000 ha None officially 2013 season

public info

7

Country Biosafety Act Biosafety legislation/

regulation /

Policy Regulatory

Agency

Burkina Faso Act 2006, revised 2013 Biosafety Decree 2004;

Biosafety Law 2011

Policy on Biotech National Biosafety Agency

Egypt National Law on

biosafety being

reviewed

Biosafety guidelines 1995 Egyptian Environmental Affairs;

Academy of Scientific Research

and Technology

Ghana Act 2011

Enacted law 2012

remains to finalize the

regulatory framework

Policy on Biotech

Regulatory Communication

Strategy 2014

National Biosafety Committee

Kenya Act 2009

Being reviewed

Regulation & Guidelines

2011

National Biotechnology

Policy 2006

NBA

Malawi Act 2002 Biosafety guidelines 1995;

Biosafety regulatory

framework 2007

National Biotech policy 2008

draft legislation

Department of Environmental

Affairs, Ministry of Environment

and Climate Change Management

North Sudan Law of Biosafety 2010 National Biosafety

framework 2008

Sudan National Biosafety Council

South Africa GMO Act 1997 Biosafety guidelines National Biotechnology

Policy and Strategy 2001

Directorate of Biosafety

Uganda National biosafety bill

2012,

2nd reading in

Parliament 2014

Biosafety guidelines 1995;

Draft Biotech and

Biosafety Policy 2013

National Biotechnology

Policy 2008

Uganda National Council for

Science and Technology;

NBC

Zimbabwe National Biotech

Authority Act 2000

Biosafety guidelines 1998 National Biotechnology Authority

of Zimbabwe

public info

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Country Biosafety status Biosafety legislation/ regulation /policy Regulatory Agency

Botswana Bill under review Nat Biosafety policy 2013

Cameroon Biosafety Act 2003, revised 2007. Biosafety guidelines 1995; draft

legislation

Lesotho Nat Biosafety bill 2005 amended 2013 Nat biosafety awareness strategy 2013;

draft legislation

Mali Biosafety law 2008, reviewing

biosafety decree 2010

NBC

Mauritius GMO Act 2004

Plant Protection Bill 2006

Ministry of Agro Industry and Food

Security

Mozambique Biosafety law 2007 revised 2012

Bill under review

draft biosafety regulations/guidelines. Grupo Inter-Institucional Sobre Bio-

Segurança (GIIBS); NBC

Namibia Biosafety Act promulgated 2006 Draft legislation

Nigeria Biosafety bill 2011.

bill passed 2nd reading Jul 2014, referred

to Senate Committees on Agriculture,

Science and Technology

biosafety guidelines 2001 Federal Ministry of Environment;

National Bio-safety Management

Agency

Senegal Biosafety law 2009 Minister of Environment

Swaziland Biosafety Act 2012 legislation under review

Tanzania Environment Management Act of 2004 Biosafety regulation 2009,

Biotech policy 2010, reviewing

NBC

Togo National biosafety framework 2004

biosafety Law 2009

Draft legislation Ministry for Environment and

Forestry, NBC

Zambia Biosafety Act 2007, reviewed 2013; Nat biosafety policy 2013;

Nat biosafety body 2013

public info

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Country Confined field trials Commercial activities/ plan

Burkina Faso cowpea, sorghum, cotton First commercial planting of GM cotton 2008

Cameroon cotton commercial plan -cotton 2015

Egypt cotton, wheat, potato, tomato, corn First commercial plantings of GM maize 2008

Ghana Bt cotton; Bt cowpea;

Nitrogen, abiotic tolerant rice;

prot enhanced sweet potato

open-field trials 2014

cotton 2017

Kenya Bt cotton; Bt corn ; drought res corn;

virus res & vit enriched cassava;

vit enriched sorghum

cotton 2015

GM import ban; Draft Health bill; Handling,

packaging, storage & transportation regulations

Task Force ; Public hearing

Lesotho Bt cotton cotton 2020

Malawi Bt Cotton, plan Bt cowpea 2014 Multi location field trials 2014

cotton 2017, cowpea 2019

Mali Bt cotton cotton 2020

Mauritius Plan disease res Sugarcane 2016

Mozambique WEMA corn; Bt cotton cotton 2020

Nigeria Bt cowpea; virus res and vit enriched cassava cowpea & cassava 2020

South Africa corn, cotton, soybean, grapes, sugarcane,

cassava, potatoes

First commercial plantings of GM maize 1997

Swaziland Plan Bt cotton 2014 cotton 2020

North Sudan Bt cotton First commercial plantings of GM cotton 2012

Tanzania Bt cotton, plan WEMA corn 2014 cotton 2020

Uganda Bt cotton; Bt corn; disease res bananas ;

virus res & vit enrich cassava

Multi location field trials 2014

cotton 2015, cassava 2016, corn 2017

Zambia Plan Bt cotton 2014; plan cassava 2015 Strict liability

Zimbabwe Plan Bt cotton 2014 GM import ban

public info

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Commercial plantingsBurkina Faso

Cameroon

Egypt

Ghana

Kenya

Malawi

North Sudan

South Africa

Uganda

Confined field trialsLesotho

Mali

Mozambique

Nigeria

Swaziland

Tanzania

Zambia

ZimbabweConfined Field Trials

Commercial GM Plantings

Burkina

Faso

Kenya

Malawi

Egypt

South Africa

Uganda

Africa by 2017

Zimbabwe

Mozambique

Ghana

Nigeria

Mali

N Sudan

S Sudan

Cameroon

Swaziland

Lesotho

public info

11

ECOWAS/ WAEMU

• WAEMU

Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

• ECOWAS

members of WAEMU + Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra

Leone.

• main intention: “promote economic integration in all fields of economic activity, particularly

industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, agriculture, natural resources, commerce,

monetary and financial questions, social and cultural matters”

• WAEMU members have integrated their economies more than rest of countries

• Established free trade among the member countries

• Challenges include: addressing the proposed strict liability regime, uniformity on risk

assessment and language coverage (French vs. English)

EAC

• All EAC Partner States have ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, however EAC

Partner States are at different stages of establishing National Biosafety Frameworks.

Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have relevant biosafety and biotechnology policies

Rwanda and Burundi only have draft biosafety policies and Bills

• Biosafety policy for formulation of harmonized regional policy on GMOs ready for adoption

• establishment of regional biotechnology and biosafety unit

• need for mechanisms for resource mobilization to support capacity building

• formation of strategies for public education, participation, awareness

Regional legislation that can assist in GM adoption: West and East Africa

public info

EAC: East African Legislative Assembly

ECOWAS: Economic Community of West African States

WAEMU: West African Economic and Monetary Union

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COMESA

• 20 member states

Kenya, Djibouti, Burundi, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda,

Seychelles, N Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, S Sudan.

• COMESA's main focus: formation of large economic and trading unit capable of overcoming country barriers

• Benchmarking studies/activities in COMESA countries

Comprehensive analysis of extent to which national biosafety frameworks are aligned with proposed COMESA

regional risk-assessment mechanism.

• ACTESA was launched in 2008 by COMESA as specialized agency to integrate small farmers into national, regional

and international markets

• COMESA/ACTESA biotechnology and biosafety unit planned visits to key countries to mobilize support for

endorsement of draft policy document.

• SADC

• 15 member states

Angola, Botswana, DR Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles,

South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

• Draft position paper of 2012

• Southern African Agric-Biotech and Biosafety Conference 2014

• Establishment of SADC Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and Biosafety (SACBB)

provide advice to SADC Secretariat on issues of Biotechnology & develop guidelines on potential GM risks

• SADC countries do not have a common approach to biotechnology and biosafety.

• Regional harmonization of biosafety policies remains a huge challenge.

public info

Regional legislation that can assist in GM adoption: East & Southern Africa

ACTESA: Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa

COMESA: common market for eastern and southern Africa

SADC: Southern Africa Development Community

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Mali

Be

Gh

Cam

Tan

Ken

Ug

Zam

Zim

MozMw

ChadNiger

Ethiopia

Soudan

Iv.C

Togo

Egypt

Regula

tory

FT

O

+

-

BF

WAEMU

ECOWAS COMESA / ACTESA

SADC

EAC

Nigeria

South Africa

Sen

Mali

Be

Gh

Cam

Tan

Ken

Ug

Zam

Zim

MozMw

ChadNiger

Ethiopia

Sudan

Iv.C

Togo

Egypt

BF

ACTESA: Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa

COMESA: common market for eastern and southern Africa

EAC: East African Legislative Assembly

ECOWAS: Economic Community of West African States

SADC: Southern Africa Development Community

WAEMU: West African Economic and Monetary Union

14

Other territorial initiatives

• ASARECA: Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa

Enhance regional collective action in agricultural research for development, extension and

agricultural training and education to promote economic growth, fight poverty, eradicate hunger

and enhance sustainable use of resources in Eastern and Central Africa

• APB: Africa Panel on Biotechnology, initiative under African Union

fostering economic integration through capacity building to harness and govern modern

biotechnology in Africa

• ABI: African Biosciences Initiative under NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development)

Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SanBio)

Biosciences Eastern and Central African Network (BecANet)

West Africa Bioscience networks (WABNet)

North Africa Bioscience networks (NABNet)

• CAADP: Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program

focusing on biotechnology, biodiversity, and indigenous knowledge systems

• SACAU: Southern African Confederation of Agriculture Union

farmer unions from Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles,

South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe