Biotechnology in Organic Agriculture in Africa: Myth or Oversight?

Abstract

Biotechnology refers to scienti fi c methods and practi ces that are based on biological systems or components. Its applicati ons vary from simple system to amino acids (i.e. DNA and RNA) based applicati ons and are relevant to many stages of commodity value chains. Whereas the simple applicati ons are well understood, contemporary advancements into these applicati ons have gone to deeper levels of innovati on, dealing with cells, chromosomes, nucleoti des and genes. Since these determine the cellular functi ons that infl uence behaviour and inheritance, any biotechnological method applied at this level is very sensiti ve, because it might result into undesirable alterati ons in the traits and behaviour of organisms. Notwithstanding its likely contributi ons, therefore, this level of innovati on raises scepti cism against biotechnology among the organic agriculture community in Africa. Thus, this paper examines the applicability of these innovati ons in the development of organic agriculture on the conti nent.