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
6
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
8
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
9
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
10
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
12
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
13
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