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A window of opportunity has opened for local agricultural scientists to learn new tricks of fortifying sorghum, thanks to US philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates who are bankrolling the project.
Known as the African Biotechnology Sorghum (ABS), the project is worth US$450 million (about K60 billion), which the Gates couple is pumping through the Gates Foundation.
The sorghum initiative is drawing its funding from the foundation’s Grand Challenges for Global Health (GCGH), which seeks to harness the power of science and technology in improving the health of the world’s poorest people.
Benson Kariuki, communications officer for Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International (AHBFI), told Nation Business Review from Johannesburg that Malawian researchers could benefit greatly from the initiative by linking up with its steering committee.
“They would get expert information, linkages and advice with top scientists and institutions in Africa involved in this project. Many benefits would accrue to local sorghum research efforts in collaboration with this international effort,” he said.
AHBFI is the lead partner of the ABS project consortium which comprises seven African agriculture research bodies and two US organisations, the Pioneer Hi-Bred International (Inc) and University of California (Berkeley). Africa Harvest operates in Kenya, South Africa and the US.
Kariuki said the project would take at least 31 researchers to Iowa in the US and Johannesburg in South Africa for training on how to develop and modify trans-gene crops—seeds which allow transfer of their genes to others.
“As such, Malawian researchers on this project would be expertly positioned to lead similar research in other crops, but also advise government on biotechnology issues,” he said.
The AFBHI communications official said Malawian agricultural research bodies should seize this opportunity to shape and lead in debate on which biotechnologies are suitable for dealing with the country’s perennial food insecurity crisis.
He said for Malawi to benefit from replication of transgenic seeds, having bio-safety laws and policies is a critical requirement.
Malawi, which published a Biosafety Act in 2002, is in the process of coming up with a subsequent Biotechnology Policy, although progress on the issue appears to be slow.
But Fred Nyondo, principal scientist at the National Research Council of Malawi (NRCM), said on Tuesday the 2002 law is adequate for supporting entry of local researchers into the sorghum project.
“With the 2002 Act, participation in biotechnologically-related research activities can go ahead without necessarily having to wait for the policy. The impending will just provide policy direction,” Nyondo said.
A key goal of the ABS project is to enhance nutrition levels of sorghum and improve its digestibility with the aim of saving poor people living in remote parts of the Sub Saharan region, and who usually face difficulties in accessing food aid in times of drought.
Other research bodies involved in ABS are the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), University of Pretoria, African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), South African-based Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Ghana’s Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).
Pioneer Hi-Bred International (Inc)—a subsidiary of Dupont—donated the technology being used while the University of California (Berkeley) would focus on making the sorghum easily digestible.
In Malawi, the use of sorghum, locally known as Mawere, is limited to brewing traditional alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages whereas in other parts of Africa, the minute-grain product is taken as a staple food. Sorghum originated from Ethiopia.
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