Director of Science, Technology, and Innovation at the Ministry for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI), Mr Kwamena Essilfie Quaison says innovations in modern biotechnology such as Genome Editing (GEd) may hold the key to modernizing Ghana’s food systems.
He said the world had entered the phase of great technological innovations and Africa must leverage on these developments to derive the needed benefits for its people.
He noted that the application of genome editing is consistent with the African Union Agenda 2063 and the sustainable development goals, and it is for this reason that the AUDA-NEPAD project on genome editing must be seen as a forwarding-looking project that must enjoy the support of all African governments.
Mr Quaison was speaking at a two-day in-country workshop on GEd Product Development in Ghana organized by MESTI in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the AUDA-NEPAD.
Mr Quaison explained that the Government of Ghana had put in place the needed regulatory framework to ensure that the country derived the best from these emerging technologies, to harness the benefits of genome editing and other emerging technologies to propel Ghana’s development agenda.
Policies and laws such as the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy, which is currently being reviewed, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2022-2025, the National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP), the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP), the Biosafety Act, 2011 (Act 831), the CSIR Act, 1996 (Act 521), among many others.
He commended AUDA-NEPAD for their exemplary leadership support and urged Ghanaian scientists to ensure that, “we are able to integrate genome editing, an important modern biotechnology tool into our food systems to enhance its resilience.”
Professor Olalekan Akinbo, Head of the Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, and Innovation (CoE-STI) of the AUDA-NEPAD said that Africa should experience zero hunger by 2063, and this he explained would only happen when scientists come to use the innovation of genome editing to improve on agricultural productivity for the benefits of farmers.
He explained that Africa had a youthful population, the youngest population in the world, and the continent must leverage this advantage into the development agenda, hence, the need to ensure that Agenda 2063 of the African Union does not become just a policy statement, but an action-oriented strategy for the continent.
Prof. Akinbo called for a deepened collaboration among institutions in Ghana undertaking research in genome editing, build trust and confidence among institutions, and have an open-door policy for collaboration.
He noted that Africa would not be able to make change until over-dependence on donors to drive the research agenda for the continent; a situation which may affect the direction of Africa’s research was re looked at. “We need to domesticate the research outputs of the continent for Africa to derive the needed benefits,” he added.
