An expert at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Prof. Olalekan Akinbo on Friday urged African countries to enact policies and regulations that would enhance the development of biotechnological products.
Akinbo, Technical Lead, Genome Editing Initiative of the AUDA-NEPAD Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology and Innovation, made this appeal in an interview in Abuja.
He noted that the Nigerian government had enacted policies and regulations that favoured responsible application and development of biotechnological products.
According to him, the policies are by international best practices.
Akinbo, however, advised the governments of African countries to set the stage for their countries to benefit from the technology of genome editing to ensure food security and economic prosperity on the continent.
He said that Nigeria was championing the commercialisation of biotech crops in Africa, adding that this was a result of its recent approval of more genetically modified crops.
“Additionally, the Nigerian government and start-up companies should also tap into immense potential of molecular farming for developing and production of subunit vaccines to bring about revenue and employment generation,” he said.
He said that in Nigeria, many people were involved in direct production of various food crops.
Akinbo said that the country was a leader in the production of certain foods globally, but this was usually due to an increase in land conversion to crop production.
“While progress is recorded with use of conventional breeding methods to develop crop varieties resistant, tolerant or well adapted to both biotic and abiotic factors, the method is still limited in some ways.
“Techniques of plant biotechnology such as genetic engineering and genome editing are increasingly becoming viable and sustainable options for improving crops under certain conditions or circumstances, ” Akinbo said.
NAN
