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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