Researchers, Scientists key to addressing food security in Africa – AATF Director 

Researchers and Scientists have the ability to address food insecurity in Africa, says the Executive Director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Dr Canisius K. Kanangire.

He explained that when researchers and scientists are given the necessary support, in terms of enacting favourable and flexible laws, it would enable them to address some of the major challenges associated with food crop production, including that of climate change.

The Executive Director was speaking on the first day of the African Conference on Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) in Nairobi, Kenya.

The conference, which is on the theme: “Agricultural Resilience through Innovation” brought together researchers, scientists and relevant stakeholders in the food value chain.

The 5-day conference is designed to tackle issues related to Agriculture and Food Security.

Dr. Kanangire explained that challenges such as climate change and population rise were increasing food insecurity on the continent, heightening the urgent need for technological innovations to stem the trend.

“Disrupted rainfall patterns, drought, extreme weather events, pest infestations, plant diseases, crop losses, and hunger are negatively impacting the continent adding that better seeds developed through genetic engineering offer hope,” he stated.

He expressed the concern that “anti-GMO activism has stalled the adoption of genetically engineered crops in many countries, contributing to the perpetuation of unsafe pesticide use, hunger and poverty adding that science-based agriculture could preserve critical indigenous foods, such as cowpea, millet, cassava and sorghum, while reducing the environmental impacts of farming.

Dr. Kanangire was of the view that the time has come for African governments to use data to take decisions that would improve livelihoods and lift millions out of extreme hunger and poverty.

“We need political will for swift and innovative action,” he noted, adding that biotechnology “is the most rapidly adopted innovation in the history of agriculture” and Africa should not be left out.

Prof. Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya, stated that most of the time when “we talk about agriculture we do not consider livestock to be part.”

For him, the livestock sector was one of the fastest-growing segments of the agricultural economy, particularly in the developing countries, adding that as demand for meat and dairy products in the developing world continues to increase, questions arise as to how this demand would be met and by whom.

He, therefore, called for technologies that could help detect new diseases in animals.

BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY