Agriculture contributes over 25% of GDP and employs above 70% of the labor force in most African countries’ economies (UNECA, 2009). Agricultural productivity is constrained by a many factors including abiotic and biotic stresses. The challenge is to develop technologies that can overcome these limiting factors and can be utilized by small-scale farmers who use minimal external inputs. Such technologies can include use of biotechnology products.

In Africa, biotechnology tools used in agriculture include tissue culture, molecular characterization, marker assisted selection, molecular diagnostics, and genetic modification (GM). Currently tissue culture is applied in many countries for rapid multiplication of planting materials for vegetatively propagated crops such as coffee, banana, pineapple, and root crops. However, few countries have adopted GM for crop production improvement, and for agricultural research and development (Table 1).

Table 1. Status of Genetically Modified (GM) Crops in Africa (Modified from absafrica.org)

The GM crops that are under commercial production in Africa are cotton (South Africa, Sudan and Burkina Faso), maize (South Africa) and soybean (South Africa) (James, 2014) while various crops and traits are under research and development (Table 2).

Table 2. GM Crops and Traits under Research and Development in Africa (Modified from Karembu et al., 2009).

To date, July 2015, 49 African countries have ratified the Cartagena Protocol of Biosafety. For more information about the biosafety systems and enabling environment in Africa, please see Legal Section link. A number of initiatives have been taken by various players including:

• United Nations Environment Programme – Global Environment Facility (UNEP-GEF)

• African Union (AU) Biosafety Project, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

• Africa Biosciences Initiatives and African Biosafety Network of Expertise (ABNE)

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

• West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD)

• Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)- African Biotechnology Biosafety Policy Platform (ABBPP)

• African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF)

• Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS)

• Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII)

• NGOs like AfricaBio, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA)- AfriCenter, African Biotechnology Stakeholders Forum (ABSF) and Africa Harvest Biotechnology Foundation International (AHBFI) to facilitate development and safe application of GM crops in Africa.

• Biosafety Resource Network (BRN)

• Biosafety South Africa