Agricultural Biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa Capacity, Enabling Environment and Applications in Crops, Livestock, Forestry and Aquaculture

Abstract

Sub-Saharan African countries were categorized with regard to their capacity for agricultural biotechnology research and application, including human capacities, institutions and facilities, operational budgets and existence of facilitating networks. For the crop and livestock sectors combined, no countries were categorized as having ‘very high’ capacity; only South Africa was categorized as ‘high’; and three countries, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria, were categorized as ‘medium’. All other SSA countries were categorized as having ‘low’ or ‘very low’ capacity. Capacity was generally higher for crops than for livestock. For the crop sector, South Africa was categorized as ‘very high’; Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe as ‘high’; and Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Eswatini and Zambia as ‘medium’ capacity. For livestock, South Africa was ‘high’ and Kenya and Nigeria ‘medium’. Strong links to international partners, such as hosting a CGIAR centre, tended to be associated with higher capacity.