"Get Biotechnology on the Agenda for Africa"
Op-Ed, The Japan Times <
http://www.japantimes.co.jp>
June 30, 2008
Author: Calestous Juma
<
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/experts/231/calestous_juma.html?bac
k_url=%2Fpublication%2F18390%2Fget_biotechnology_on_the_agenda_for_afric
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Professor of the Practice of
International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and
Globalization Project
Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Science, Technology, and
Globalization
<
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/project/39/science_technology_and_globalization.html>
Science, Technology, and Public Policy
Leaders at the Group of Eight industrialized nations' summit in Hokkaido
next month need to take strong measures to promote cooperation in using
biotechnology to address Africa's food challenges. At present there is
resistance from Europe, and even Japan is dragging its feet on this
vital issue.
Critics often argue that using modern biotechnology in African
agriculture would harm farmers, wreck the environment and expose
consumers to unknown risks. But by failing to adopt biotechnology,
Africa puts its poor populations at greater risk of starvation. Without
substantial investment in biotechnology to address critical challenges
such as drought, Africa will continue to experience food deficits.
The G8 summit should encourage Africa and its partners to design new
models of cooperation that involve partnerships between government,
industry and academia. An example of such creative institutional
arrangements is the Water Efficient Maize for Africa initiative funded
by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett
Foundation.
The aim of the $47 million grant to the African Agricultural Technology
Foundation (AATF) is to develop drought-tolerant and royalty-free maize
varieties for Africa. It will use marker-assisted technology and other
biotechnologies. The first drought-tolerant variety will be available in
seven years.
Critics argue that intellectual property rights prevent African
countries from obtaining technologies to meet basic needs. But new
drought-tolerance techniques have already been licensed to AATF without
charge. They can be developed, tested and distributed to small-scale
African farmers without charge.
Under this novel arrangement, the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT) avails itself of conventionally developed
drought-tolerant, high-yielding maize varieties suited to African
conditions. In addition to CIMMYT's expertise, Monsanto will offer
proprietary genetic material and advanced breeding techniques.
Monsanto and BASF will offer royalty-free, drought-tolerant genes
arising from their collaboration. Participating countries (Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa) will provide additional expertise
available in farmers' groups and local companies.
Considerable effort has gone into forging partnerships that let African
countries enter into genuine partnership with companies in
industrialized countries as envisaged in the "Freedom to Innovate"
report commissioned by the African Union and the New Economic
Partnership for Africa's Development.
This partnership illustrates the potential for using new technologies to
address the world's just causes. Numerous institutions around the world
could play a key role in improving African agriculture, but persistent
criticism and limited political leadership in the industrialized world
continue to undermine international cooperation in the field.
For example, pathbreaking research of relevance into Africa's needs is
carried out at the Kihara Institute for Biological Research at Yokohama
City University. This research can help Africa enhance the nutritional
content of indigenous crops and find plant-based remedies for a variety
of tropical diseases. Such institutions could work more closely with the
private sector.
This work is hindered by advocacy groups in industrialized countries who
purport to speak for developing countries. Some of these groups receive
government funding that is used to slow down technical progress in
African countries.
At least the Luddites of 17th-century England professed a clear economic
ideology to protect their local industries. Modern critics of
biotechnology seem to show little interest in the welfare of the people
they claim to be protecting.
Although the safety of biotechnology products continues to be a major
concern for African countries, the capacity needed to ensure safety
comes from efforts to develop the technology. It would be futile to
develop the capacity to assess the safety of new products when no
capacity exists to develop such products.
This is not to deny the importance of protecting the environment and
consumers against unintended harm. Maximization of the benefits of new
technologies must be balanced with the reduction of risks.
The demand that products be proven safe before commercialization,
however, has denied Africa a crucial chance to learn to use the
technology and gain a better understanding of its impact.
While the claims about risks need to be addressed, they no longer carry
the same stigma worldwide. South America and Asia have in many cases
leapfrogged into the genomics age through the adoption of biotechnology
while its use in Africa remains largely marginal.
Advances in the use of biotechnology in South Africa and China, for
example, show that safety measures co-evolve with the development of the
technology. We should not blindly demand proof of safety as a
prerequisite for using new technology. Such demands are ploys used to
stall the adoption of new technologies by other vested interests.
Failure to adopt these technologies is one of the gravest risks facing
poor countries. The G8 nations must show leadership in supporting new
biotechnology partnerships with African countries. Dragging their feet
will only prolong human misery.
Calestous Juma is a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and a senior
visiting professor at the United Nations University Institute of
Advanced Studies, Yokohama. He co-chaired the African Union's High-Level
Panel on Modern Biotechnology. This article is based on his remarks at
the G8 Dialogue organized in May by United Nations University, Tokyo.
For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer
Center Communications Office
<
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/contact/7/belfer_center_communicati ons_office.html>
at 617-495-9858.
Full text of this publication is available at:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20080630a1.html
For Academic Citation:
Juma, Calestous. "Get Biotechnology on the Agenda for Africa." The Japan
Times (June 30, 2008).
