许多非洲国家无法满足其不断增长的人口的粮食需求,气候变化和疾病爆发使情况更加恶化。如果不采取有效措施提供更多粮食,这一粮食不安全问题可能会导致一场规模巨大的危机。因此,利用生物技术改善现有作物品种对生物和非生物胁迫的耐受性或抗性,对于增加作物产量至关重要。为了优化作物生产,一些非洲国家已经实施了充分利用这一创新技术的战略。例如,尼日利亚政府实施了国家生物技术政策,以促进能力建设,研究,二十多年来,生物资源开发和生物技术产品的商业化。几个政府部门,研究中心,大学,和机构共同努力实施这项政策,导致一些转基因作物向农民种植和商业化,这是一项重大成就。然而,转基因作物仅被带到尼日利亚进行密闭田间试验;转基因作物的制造发生在国外。这可能导致了对压力团体的怀疑,并鼓励生物技术作为外来技术的支持者。同样,这也可能是阻碍其他非洲国家采用生物技术产品的根本问题。因此,非洲大学有必要发展生物技术各个方面的能力,不断培训土著科学家,他们能够产生针对解决各自国家特有问题的创新想法。因此,本研究旨在以尼日利亚为例,确定基因工程和基因组编辑对实现非洲粮食安全的作用。在我们看来,生物技术方法不仅将补充传统的育种方法,以追求作物改良,但它仍然是解决阻碍最佳作物生产的具体问题的可行和可持续手段。此外,我们建议金融机构向新企业提供低息贷款。为了促进生物技术产品的增长,特别是通过分子农业创造就业机会和收入。
Many African countries are unable to meet the food demands of their growing population and the situation is worsened by climate change and disease outbreaks. This issue of food insecurity may lead to a crisis of epic proportion if effective measures are not in place to make more food available. Thus, deploying biotechnology towards the improvement of existing crop varieties for tolerance or resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses is crucial to increasing crop production. In order to optimize crop production, several African countries have implemented strategies to make the most of this innovative technology. For example, Nigerian government has implemented the National Biotechnology Policy to facilitate capacity building, research, bioresource development and commercialization of biotechnology products for over two decades. Several government ministries, research centers, universities, and agencies have worked together to implement the policy, resulting in the release of some genetically modified crops to farmers for cultivation and Commercialization, which is a significant accomplishment. However, the transgenic crops were only brought to Nigeria for confined field trials; the manufacturing of the transgenic crops took place outside the country. This may have contributed to the suspicion of pressure groups and embolden proponents of biotechnology as an alien technology. Likewise, this may also be the underlying issue preventing the adoption of biotechnology products in other African countries. It is therefore necessary that African universities develop capacity in various aspects of biotechnology, to continuously train indigenous scientists who can generate innovative ideas tailored towards solving problems that are peculiar to respective country. Therefore, this study intends to establish the role of genetic engineering and genome editing towards the achievement of food security in Africa while using Nigeria as a
case study. In our opinion, biotechnology approaches will not only complement conventional breeding methods in the pursuit of crop improvements, but it remains a viable and sustainable means of tackling specific issues hindering optimal crop production. Furthermore, we suggest that financial institutions should offer low-interest loans to new businesses. In order to promote the growth of biotechnology products, especially through the creation of jobs and revenues through molecular farming.