The Green Revolution The first Green Revolution resulted in cereal yields more

than doubling in Western Europe through crop breeding

and agricultural intensification

Over the same period, yields in Africa remained static.

Production was increased by increasing the area harvested

The downsides of the green revolution….

Not seen in Africa because not focused on Africa’s

needs

Associated with environmental degradation through

increased use of agrochemicals and irrigation water

So – can Africa leapfrog to the “doubly green

revolution” that will develop sustainable

bioeconomies at the same time as boosting output?

This will need modern bioscience!

What is needed?

Crops with durable disease resistance

Abiotic stress tolerance to withstand climate change

Nutrient and water use efficiency

Crops for industrial use – biofuels, pharmaceuticals,

green chemicals etc

Livestock with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and

efficient nutrient conversion

What bioscience tools do we have?

Tissue culture

Disease free planting material

Interspecific and intergeneric hybrids with increased

vigour

Potential for hybrids in crops such as banana and

cassava, promising productivity increases

Marker assisted selection

Association of a marker with a particular trait enables

rapid selection of individual plants or animals

What bioscience tools do we have? (2)

High throughput genotyping and genome-wide selection

Whole genome sequencing of many crops, including orphan crops such as pigeon pea, tef, banana, African rice, cassava

Whole genome sequencing of cows, pigs, chickens, sheep, goats

Sequencing to determine variation across the whole genome associated with specific traits

Potential for simultaneous selection of multiple desirable traits without having to wait for a plant or animal to reach maturity

….but, needs carefully chosen breeding populations that sample genetic variation particularly for complex characters – may be a bottleneck for the orphan crops where there has been a lack of focus on conventional breeding

…..for animals, need to select those that perform well under suboptimal conditions in Africa (limited feed, drought, disease, heat stress)

Genetically modified organisms Transgenics

GM crops with herbicide tolerance and insect resistance

Nutrient enhancement

Crops with more complex traits in the pipeline (drought

tolerance, nutrient use efficiency, stress tolerance)

Pharmaceutical production in plants

Cisgenics/intragenics

Transfer of DNA between organisms of the same species

May be subject to less regulation than conventional GMOs

Other genetic modifications

Targeted genome editing

Site specific genetic modifications

Directed mutagenesis of specific genes

Potential for metabolic engineering of specific pathways

Elimination of allergens, increased disease resistance etc

May not be regulated as GMOs (still debated)

Epigenetic modification

Alteration of gene expression states

May be transmitted across generations

Potential to improve clonally propagated crops (eg banana) or

crops with severe germplasm bottlenecks (eg groundnuts)

How will this help African agriculture?

We need to focus research on crops that are important to

Africa

We need to focus on climate resilience

Focus on crops for marginal lands

What can be done right now for Africa?

Develop crops with improved nutrient content

Develop (first generation) crops with drought tolerance

Develop disease resistant crops

Develop (first generation) crops with enhanced nitrogen use efficiency

Develop improved multi-use biofuel crops (Jatropha, sweet sorghum)

Develop crops for production of high value chemicals and pharmaceuticals

Develop oil crops as bio-based alternatives to petrochemical feedstocks

What is in development? Semi-dwarf and lodging tolerant tef

Nutrient enhanced and disease resistant cassava,

banana

Biofortified and drought tolerant maize

Disease, insect and striga resistant cowpea

Orange fleshed sweet potato

Striga and drought tolerant sorghum

High sugar and biomass sweet sorghum

Disease and drought tolerant pearl millet

Jatropha with reduced seed toxins

What can’t we do yet with modern

bioscience?

(but is on the horizon…) Improve phosphorus uptake and utilization

Improve salt and aluminium tolerance

Develop crops to remove toxic chemicals (phytoextraction)

Develop crops to withstand unpredictable climate extremes

(heat, cold, drought, waterlogging, altered season length)

Economically produce a wide range of valuable metabolites

in plants (sweeteners, flavours and fragrances, dyes and

pigments, skin treatments, nutraceuticals etc)

How can Sweden help?

Farming systems that

are sustainable and

support economic

development

Bioscience for crop

and livestock

improvement

Improved

food

security

New

products for

a

bioeconomy

Mitigation of

impact on the

environment

How can Sweden help to get

bioscience to the African farmer?

Enable African scientists to use modern bioscience tools

Support research programmes that reflect African

priorities

Build public-private partnerships

Build linkages between scientists, breeders, seed sector,

farmers, industry and consumers to develop an

integrated value chain