Towards making more out of biotechnology

Source: Ethiopian Herald

(Taken from a document by Dr. Tilahun Zeweldu)



Biotechnology is a science that uses living organisms or substances to make or modify a product, to improve the productivity of plants or animals for specific purposes. This technology has it sown pivotal roles in the advancement and improvement of productivity as well as quality of products of agriculture, industry, medicine and other areas of production. For example, biotechnology is used in Ethiopia to improve and create new high quality seeds and better agricultural products. It is also used to enhance productivity in plant crops, forestry, animal husbandry, soil fertility and the like.

However, Ethiopia has still no biotechnology strategy and proclamation that promote the science so as to ensure development in various fields. To this end, Dr. Tilahun Zeweldu, Coordinator of Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Programme (APEP) of East Africa and advisor of the same project in Uganda, has proposed a policy document for Ethiopia in his writing under the title “Biotechnology Development Strategies for Ethiopia.” The proposal paper was distributed at the regional workshop on biotechnology organized by the Horn Biotechnology Forum (HBF) on the 20th and 21st of July 2006 at the UN Conference Centre here in Addis.

According to Dr. Tilahun, currently, Ethiopia is suffering from the major problems, in the main, food in security, energy constraints, poor health care, poverty and the like, despite the fact that Ethiopia is considered as one of the biodiversity rich countries in the world, and rich in water resources as well. Biotechnology is one of the most promising scientific tools for the speedy economic development of countries like Ethiopia through sustainable exploitation of biological resources for agricultural, manufacturing and processing industries, health care and other services…

Current Status of Biotechnology in Ethiopia

Biotechnology and issues related to it are being discussed globally in multitude of international forums. Several international organizations have direct competence in dealing with issues relating to biotechnology. Biosafety is addressed by Cartagena Protocol, biodiversity by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Agriculture by Food and Agriculture Organization (F AO), intellectual property rights and technology transfer by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and World Trade Organization (WTO), trade by WTO, risk analysis of foods derived from modern biotechnology in Codex Alimentarius under the World Health Organization (WHO)/F AO, plant protection under the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and the development of consensus documents by the organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Moreover, recently organizations like World Bank and UNIDO are engaging themselves in biotechnology and related issues increasingly. For instance the World Bank has launched a consultative process on proposed international assessment of the role of agricultural science and technology in reducing hunger, improving rural livelihoods and stimulating environmentally sustainable economic growth.

In the view of this international prospect regarding biotechnology and related issues, the question remains as to what has been and is happening in Ethiopia. The awareness of the Ethiopian Government, the scientific community, policy makers and research managers, as well as the general public with regard to the economic importance of biotechnology in the areas of health, industry, agriculture and energy has been extremely low. If there is any sort of awareness at all, it is mainly related to genetically modified food crops. This is basically because of the nature of the technology and associated environmental and food safety concerns.

As the result of this very low level of awareness and understanding of biotechnology, Ethiopia so far does not have a national biotechnology policy, strategy and legal framework for judicious use of biotechnologies in different sectors of economy. Thus, biotechnology capacity and capability in the country is extremely low. Ethiopia does not have any sort of approved national or institutional biosafety policy and national legal framework to regulate importation, exportation, research and development or testing of transgenic technologies or products. However, recently 2002/3, Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia has received funding from United Nations Environmental Programme Global Environment Fund (UNEP-GEF) to develop a National Biosafety Framework (NBF) which should be in compliance with CBD and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The emphasis of this biosafety is regulating development and/or trans-boundary movement and handling of genetically modified organisms from the environmental safety point of view which also takes into account the protection of biological diversity from being contaminated through gene/pollen flow or from being harmed by whole transgenic organism.

Comprehensive national and institutional biosafety policies, regulations, and guidelines are the major prerequisites for applying genetic engineering tools to develop technologies and novel products for health care services such as vaccines and therapeutic drugs; for industrial use such as highly efficient recombinant enzymes and micro organisms; for agriculture such as biotic and abiotic stress tolerant transgenic crops and trees, and developing highly efficient recombinant rhizobia to improve the soil fertility; and to develop biotechnologies for environmental protection, rehabilitation and management purposes.



To be able to fully benefit from the advancement of genetic transformation technology, Ethiopia needs to put in place comprehensive national and institutional biosafety policies; and national as well as institutional biosafety regulations and guidelines parallel to biotechnology research and development capacity building efforts. Otherwise, development, access, and transfer of modern biotechnology into Ethiopia will be very difficult if not totally impossible. Protection of intellectual and technology properties (IP and TP) developing mechanisms for accessing technologies and transfer and commercialization of research outputs (technologies and or products) are very critical factors in the use of science and technology for economic development. A nation that does not have mechanisms to protect, transfer and commercialize its scientific research results, inventions and discoveries is not viable for economic social and cultural development. Therefore in order to do this, it requires setting up systems for intellectual property (IP), technology transfer (TT), technology and product licensing, and commercialization policies and implementation strategies.

Ethiopia does not have explicit IP, TT, Licensing, commercialization and management policy and strategic plan related to life sciences and biotechnology. Not having this policy framework and implementation strategy in place has significantly contributed to the existing scientific, technological, economic, social and cultural situation of Ethiopia. Therefore, putting in place the national and institutional IP policies that are conducive to the local and national private and public sector development is a very critical step forward for the national scientific, technological and business development.

Full article available at: http://www.ethpress.gov.et/Herald/article.asp?categoryid=44&categoryName=Economy+%26+Development