The symposium provided a platform for exchange of experiences and strategies for furthering the progress of Africa’s biotechnology sector and to reflect on the progress that African countries have made in the adoption of biotech crops. Discussions and strategies on how to harness the gains for the continent’s journey to self-reliance took place. All the six African Countries leading in biotechnology adoption participated in the symposium. They were Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Others were Uganda and Ghana.
It was declared open by Prof. Aggrey Ambali, Head of Science, Technology and Innovation Hub, AUDA- NEPAD Agency who pledged AUDA-NEPAD’s support for biotechnology in general and genome editing in particular, noting that technology is an additional tool that will enhance precision in breeding, but its adoption relies more on policy. Other Speakers at the opening of the Symposium were Dr. Mahaletchumy Arujanan: ISAAA Global Coordinator based in Malaysia and Chavonda Jacobs-Young; Administrator of USDA’s Chief Scientific In-House Research agency. While Dr. Canisius K. Kanangire, AATF Executive Director, said proactive communication is the best approach in biotechnology communication.
The symposium comprised seven sessions: six Focused Groups Sessions for Policy Makers, Journalists/Science Communicators, Regulators, Scientists/Researchers, Private Sector, Farmers; and Genome Editing Sessions. Each session covered an important facet of bioscience communication, challenges discussed with proposed solutions.
Meanwhile, the Director General/CEO, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Professor Abdullahi Mustapha chaired the ‘Policy Dialogue Session’ while the ‘Regulators Focal Group’, was chaired by the Director General/CEO of National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr Rufus Ebegba.
Chairing the Journalists/Science Communicators FGD, Dr. Gidado, conducted the session through three key questions. They were: Reflecting on the current coverage of Agri biotech in Nigeria, how would you rate its effectiveness? Please expound with examples; How best can we get the public to know and experience biotechnology? And what can journalists and communicators do to improve public understanding of biotech? After deliberations, each country made a presentation of their findings to all the other participants virtually.
Earlier, the guest speaker for the Science Journalist and Communicators Session and Editor in Chief, AfricaSTI, Diran Onifade who was the former Vice president, World Federation of Science, WFSJ, said journalists should report accurate and balanced stories and that covering science is different from general coverage.
Another speaker at the session, the OFAB Africa Project Manager, Vitumbiko Chinoko, gave a comprehensive lecture on “Effective Biotech and Biosafety Communications: Lessons from the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa”. Summarizing his lecture, he asserted that OFAB is about covering the space to share knowledge about agricultural biotechnology among Journalists, Scientist, Civil Society Organizations, Lawyers and Policy Makers.
In another development, Prof. Jennifer Thomson, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town delivered the Keynote Speech. Professor Thomson highlighted that in some jurisdictions such as the European Union, biotechnology regulation has not been based on science, thus it would be wrong for other geographies to copy-paste EU systems. Meanwhile, Priscila Quaini Jacobitz, a Government Affairs Manager at CropLife Europe agreed that while the EU is not a big place for motivation due to a number of reasons, it is a destination market, it’s an importer of GM crops. EU, she said, imports 97 per cent Soybean from Brazil and Argentina, meaning that the EU consumes GM products especially as livestock feed, except that they prefer to import than grow.
On the sidelines of the Symposium, Awards were conferred on six scientists and researchers who have shown commitment to the development of biotechnology in the six focus countries in Africa. The awards aimed to encourage them to continue with the good work they are doing. ABBC involved country level committees to nominate and select the awardees using a predetermined criterion that included considerations such as commitment to the scientific course, activeness in the media and release of a product.
The awardees were: Dr Tedesa Daba, Director at the biotechnology Research Directorate of Ethiopia Institute of Agricultural Research – Ethiopia; Prof. Marian Dorcas Quain, a renowned biotechnologist that has worked on numerous crops with focus on the utilization of Tissue Culture for the production of disease-free planting materials – Ghana; Dr. Charles Waturu, a retired Director of Horticultural Research Institute and holds a PhD in Crop Protection from the University of Reading, UK – Kenya and Prof. James Bukosi, a Professor at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource. Bukosi was the first Bt. cotton Trial Manager in Malawi and the Chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee of the National Commission for Science and Technology in Malawi – Malawi.
Others were: Professor Mohammad Ishiyaku, B.t Cowpea Lead Scientist and the Executive Director Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) Nigeria – Nigeria and Dr. Tushemereirwe Wilberforce, a Banana Breeder and currently the Director of Research at the National Agricultural Research Laboratories at NARO – Uganda.The Award was presided over by Prof. Ratemo Michika.