THE ROLE OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (RD) IN AFRICA: EXPERIENCE FROM ISAAA FACILITATED PROJECTS

摘要

The productivity level of agricultural crops in Africa is considerably below global averages, and continues to decline. More than 5,000 Africans a day die from chronic malnutrition. The World Bank estimates that one out of two Africans, equivalent to250 million people, barely survive on less than a dollar a day. About 30 million preschool African children are significantly undernourished. 90 % of Africa's poor are resource-poor farmers and fully dependent on agriculture. In the next decade only lessthan 5% pf increased food production can come from area expansion, while about 10% must come from additional irrigation, and the overwhelming balance of approximately 80% will have to come from increased productivity per unit of land. To increase agricultural productivity per unit of land will require increased use of science-based agricultural systems, which must be achieved without adverse effects to the environment, depletion of natural resources and within sustainable agricultural development. Unfortunately, the continent suffers from low investments in Science and Technology R & D and weak institutional, political and infrastructural capacities to acquire and responsibly deploy biotechnology. In this regard, a new kind of a multidisciplinary approach involving public-private, north-south and south-south partnerships is considered necessary to address these needs. This paper highlights some conditions under which such partnerships could be harnessed to hasten the process of technology transfer indeveloping countries with special emphasis on Africa. Among these are: the presence of the political will, the presence or absence of institutions of comparative advantage and in some cases a facilitating agency to ensure focus. The possibility of nearterm impact, public acceptance of the technology and the potential for technology products' distribution systems are other considerations. Experience from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) facilitated projects are used whenever possible to give illustrations.