Advancing biotechnology to solve Africa’s food challenges NBTNewsBeat via Nature
African researchers are racing to find solutions to protect crops and ensure food security for the continent.As temperatures rise and rainfall patterns change, global plant disease outbreaks are increasing, posing a huge threat to agriculture. Africa, home to 50% of the world’s smallholder farmers, is particularly vulnerable.
Pest outbreaks have increased in frequency, and are responsible for up to 40% of maize, potato, rice, soybean, and wheat crop yield losses worldwide, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations . It is a catastrophic situation in a world where food insecurity is already the reality for more than 800 million people.
“There’s also crop pharmacology, where we design fungicides to fight new diseases, find beneficial bacteria that can give plants an advantage, and create designer-made organisms to protect plants from disease,” he says. He’s confident that with biotechnology, more plants can be modified to adapt to the climate crisis, including desertification, changing rainfall patterns, and an increase in pests and diseases.
Sudan, Malawi, and Nigeria grow GM cotton, while field trials of several other GM crops — cassava, cowpea, banana and Irish potato are taking place in Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Rwanda. Groenewald says the high cost of commercializing a commodity product in South Africa presents a major hurdle. Only large agricultural biotechnology companies have the adequate resources, and have little incentive to produce local crops for the benefit of smallholder farmers.
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