WILMOT JAMES AND ANDREA UHLIG: How innovation can help Africa feed its people

The exponential increase in the human population of Africa, the world’s youngest and fastest-growing — by some estimates it will nearly double by 2050 — will apply further pressure on an already unsustainable demand for crop production in a region historically challenged by food insecurity.

Though agriculture accounts for 23% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP, that relatively high number becomes a liability due to the inherently volatile nature of crop production, compounded by much of the harvest comprising exports such as coffee and cacao, while a large portion of staple cereals are imported from outside the continent, rendering the African diet vulnerable to broken international supply chains.

Though significant progress has been made in establishing self-sufficient agricultural sectors across Africa, these factors — worsened by unanticipated consequences of climate change and global conflict — threaten to reclaim the ground gained.

Since October 2020 millions inhabiting the greater Horn of Africa region have faced a hunger crisis resulting from one of the worst droughts in recent history due to cyclical El Niño weather patterns, in addition to regional conflict and global supply chain disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The effect of disruptive weather events, predicted to increase in severity in coming decades due to climate change, must not be underestimated for the scope and scale of their effects not only on crop production but on animal husbandry and aquaculture, and downstream to social services and healthcare.

Malnutrition, displacement and stressful conditions render a population susceptible to disease, and increased spread of foreign human and livestock-borne pathogens are some of the manifold second-order consequences of climate disruption.

Malnutrition, even in states less serious than starvation, is an insidious condition not only in its immediate effects on the body’s functioning but in its pervasive and sometimes permanent effects on the regulatory and nervous systems, in addition to triggering organ malfunction and irreversible conditions such as osteoporosis.

Malnutrition due to inadequate caloric intake or deficiencies in micronutrients in the form of essential vitamins and minerals is known to permanently stunt the development of growing children, leading to myriad chronic medical conditions, reduced lifespan and overall poor health outcomes.

Increased stress on healthcare resources and loss of wages due to reduced ability to work, in addition to humanitarian concerns, are some of the long-term consequences of inadequate access to sustenance that must be addressed to ensure the success of developing regions.

Selective breeding of crops is an ancient practice: the delicious, potassium-rich, high-yield Cavendish banana as we know it probably began its evolution journey, spanning continents and centuries, in Africa circa 650AD. Current gene modification technology, debuted in 1972, typically involves introducing foreign genetic code to an existing crop species through viral infection. The method is often criticised as imprecise and narrowly focused, and research into its safety is ongoing.

The CRISPR method (first identified in 1987, and recent research into which has garnered a Nobel prize) promises to accelerate that process by orders of magnitude due to its ability to exactingly target and edit specified genetic sequences.

A recently published article highlighting the benefits of CRISPR-edited maize and sorghum seeds planted in African soil details the relative ease and economy of this gene editing, noting especially the potential utility to low- and middle-income countries. The crops of these countries could be tailored to their locality’s specific environment and resources rather than relying on inefficient farming of stock-standard seeds developed for use in disparate locales.

In resource-insecure regions, economical use of land and labour is a major draw of this new technology, which is being engineered to produce hardier, more nutritious, higher-yielding crops. Additionally, crops engineered for superior pest resistance and nutritional value result in decreased necessity of environmentally hazardous pesticides and fertilisers.

The largely untrialled method shows promise as the looming climate crisis disrupts typical weather and animal migration patterns, resulting in unpredictable periods of flood or drought and infestation. Thus far, CRISPR-modified varieties of rice, soya, canola, maize, mushrooms and camelina have been approved for commercial production, though strict regulations pose a challenge to widespread implementation.

As demonstrated in the frustrating, fascinating case of “Golden Rice”, which was modified to contain high amounts of beta-carotene (a precursor to the essential nutrient vitamin A, a deficiency of which plagues developing nations), the topic of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be politically fraught. It is also no stranger to scientific scepticism as the potential benefits are weighed against established and unknown risks.

Concerns arise about the lack of legislation and protocol in the use of CRISPR. In an effort to bypass time-intensive testing typically performed on genetically modified crops, countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, and Malawi have chosen to classify CRISPR-modified crops as conventional crops, reasoning that unlike traditional GMOs they have not been supplemented with DNA from other plant species.

Additionally, the rising risk of agro-terrorism, including deliberate infection of animals or plants with pathogenic material — another process enabled by new GMO technologies such as CRISPR — presents a sinister side of technological progress and must not be discounted as an unanticipated threat to food supply.

New exploitation

In addition to the immediate need for reliable sources of food to sustain a hungry population, a compelling argument for expediting agricultural self-sufficiency lies in the consideration of Africa’s status as the richest continent in terms of natural resources, making it an attractive target for foreign nations that may view unstable or impoverished conditions as leveraging opportunities — by offering, for example, financial incentives or food subsidies to local governments in return for access to their natural resources of far greater value.

As global resources continue to rapidly deplete, African governments must position themselves to resist potentially destabilising offers from parties with an interest not in providing benefit to African citizens but in exploiting an unstable food supply.

Another possible obstacle to widespread implementation of CRISPR is the initial cost barrier to small-scale farms, which comprise the majority of the Sub-Saharan agricultural industry, necessitating financial investment from regional governments that must be convinced of the method’s potential benefits to the economy. Local acquisition of and investment in new technologies and associated laboratories may aid adoption by hesitant farmers, who may be wary of what could be perceived as unnecessary overseas intervention.

Investment in CRISPR technology and research into alternative farming methods as preparedness tools for countering food insecurity could mark a turning point in the direction of African farming and food security. Though its full abilities have yet to be demonstrated, the promise of CRISPR technology lies in its potential to facilitate self-sufficient or even surplus crop economies immune to intercontinental supply chain disruptions and changing environmental conditions, wherein excess produce may be exported to neighbouring regions.

Despite past and ongoing struggles, Africa must continue to look to the future. The way forward calls for inventive, synergistic approaches in addressing the unique challenges facing Africa’s agricultural landscape, progressing towards a symbiotic, independent pan-African agricultural marketplace.

• James is professor and senior adviser, and Uhlig research associate, at the School of Public Health Pandemic Centre of Brown University, Rhode Island.