Chapter 7 Policy, Investment, and Partnerships for


Agricultural Biotechnology Research in Africa: Emerging Evidence


David J. Spielman and Patricia Zambrano T


he past decade has seen vociferous debate over genetically engineered (GE) crops and their potential contribution to Africa’s development. Although the initial debates revolved primarily around whether such


technologies should be introduced, recent debates have become far more nuanced. Today, the discourse addresses such questions as what types of public policies can make GE crops and other applications of agricultural biotechnol- ogy (agbiotech) more readily available to researchers, farmers, and consum- ers in Africa. This chapter examines the extent to which public policies across the African continent are enabling the research, development, and dissemina- tion of GE crops. The chapter does so by drawing on data from two studies on issues relating to the design and execution of such policies. The first section reviews the literature on key issues in agbiotech research,


development, and deployment, with specific reference to Africa. The next one describes the two studies on agbiotech in developing countries, with findings from these studies presented in the subsequent section. A set of actionable pol- icy recommendations is then provided, followed by concluding remarks that offer insights to the future of GE crops and agbiotech in, and for, Africa.


Tracking Agbiotech’s Evolution


The growing body of literature on the state of agbiotech in Africa includes three main areas of inquiry: (1) studies that track the development and com- mercialization of GE crops in the region; (2) studies that follow the devel- opment of biosafety regulations and related legislation for managing the release of GE crops in the region; and (3) studies of the size, types, and con- straints to investment in research, development, and dissemination of GE crops by the public and private sectors. The literature in each of these areas is reviewed here.


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