Strategic Thematic Area 1: Food security and sustainable agriculture

Goal: To strengthen food and feed production, ensuring food security, through the introduction of sustainable biobased technologies and solutions

Increasing agricultural productivity has for a long time been a central priority in many agricultural strategies and development plans for all the countries. Emerging technologies in modern bioeconomies – not least modern biosciences – provide an increasingly powerful innovation engine to support and enhance sustainable agricultural production.

KRA 1: Value addition to food crops, livestock, and microbial products

Objective: To deliver economic growth and create opportunities for smallholder farmers and SMEs by adding more value to primary produce and the use of agricultural residues

Improving value addition to food crops, livestock and fish is a central priority in agricultural strategies and development plans of countries in the region. Successful value addition will be a major pull factor for agricultural production and productivity improvement already explicated in these strategies and plans. Currently value chains of major crops, livestock and fish, and algal produce in the region are mostly made up of small- to medium-sized, largely informal, private sector enterprises. The degree of value addition varies considerably between countries and types of primary produce. For example, while value addition to commercial crops such as coffee, tea, and sisal is substantial in the region, crops such as cassava, sorghum and millet undergo limited value addition.  Emerging technologies in the modern bioeconomy – such as modern bioprocessing provide an increasingly powerful innovation engine which the region will use to improve traditional and current agro-processing and value addition.

Potential impact: The potential in the region to add more value to primary produce is large for many food crops, livestock and seafood produce. There is also high potential to use more agricultural residues, and processing by-products in new value chains, providing additional income to farmers and other value chain actors. One example is cassava, which can be processed into chips, flour and alcoholic beverage production. Cassava waste can be converted to useful products such as bioenergy bio-packaging materials, and biofertiliser.

KRA 2: Novel food and feed products

Objective: To produce a variety of novel, safe and healthy food and feed products for growing local, regional and international markets

The global market for novel functional foods, feeds and food/feed additives and nutraceuticals (foods with health-giving/medicinal benefits) are growing rapidly. Probiotic feed products also have a large potential in the region. With its large biodiversity and rapidly increasing demand for novel food products, the region seeks to build and develop an industry based on functional food derivatives from locally sourced bioresources. Such an industry will serve local, regional, and international markets. In addition, there is a growing global trend (especially in the OECD countries) to reduce traditional meat consumption to combat climate change, presenting a market for new sources of proteins, complementing the current animal protein production systems in the region. The region will pursue development and use of novel, resource-efficient protein production systems such as food and feed products from insects, algae, Spirulina (a type of cyanobacteria), molluscs, etc., replacing animal protein, especially from intensive production systems.

Potential impact: The potential impact is huge. As an example, the global market for Spirulina alone is around US$400 million, with an annual growth rate of over 10%, while the market for carotenoids (which can be extracted from plants or algae) is over US$1.3 billion. In the case of substitutes for meat protein, the global market is over US$4 billion, and is growing exponentially. In Africa, although the market for meat substitutes is growing from a low base, the growth rate is over 8%, only constrained by product availability. The region is well placed to enter markets of this nature, with a potentially very significant economic impact.

KRA 3: Biobased agricultural inputs

Objective: To support and enhance sustainable agricultural production through the growth of bio-based agricultural inputs produced in the region

Crop and animal pests and diseases are a challenge for the region, holding back agricultural productivity and having a negative impact on livelihoods and nutritional status. The pest and disease pressure may also be aggravated by climate change impacts. Pesticides, insect-repellents, and fertilisers are mostly imported, represent a major cost for farmers, and are out of reach for many smallholders. Biopesticides, bio-fertilisers and growth enhancing microorganisms, and biocontrol agents based on organic and renewable resources represent a major opportunity for countries in the region. Additionally, they are generally much less toxic to humans and other mammals and have less impact on wildlife and the environment than conventional chemical inputs. However research is needed to improve their efficacy and user friendliness. This KRA seeks to deliver locally made biobased solutions, which could promote agricultural productivity for smallholders, while also creating jobs. The region already has some enterprises in this domain at limited scales that can be built upon.  To make this happen (see Chapter 6), interventions will be undertaken to ensure that a supportive regulatory and standards environment is developed, and to build capacity to support the use of these bio-based inputs.

Potential impact: The development and application of biobased agricultural inputs has potential to allow farmers and rural communities in the region to benefit from the valuable niche markets opening up in developed countries for organically produced foods and increasing demand for residue free crop protection products. The lack of residues and the positive environmental and toxicological profile of biopesticides also make it much easier for African countries to export crops to countries using ISO and CODEX standards.