'Super sorghum' for Africa

EDGAR TSIMANE
Correspondent | Wednesday May 7, 2008 00:00

This may be possible if a current research being conducted by scientists to fortify one of Africa's important staple foods yields desirable results. An African-led consortium under the leadership of Kenya-based Africa Harvest Biotech Foundation International, scientists at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and other globally respected organisations are working on a project called 'The African Biofortified Sorghum Project - an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to the tune of US $17.6 million.

According to a CSIR report, which outlines numerous research projects being conducted across Africa, researchers seek to develop sorghum with increased levels of pro-vitamin A and E, iron, zinc, essential amino acids and protein prototype with increased lysine.

CSIR scientists say while the grain is uniquely adapted to the semi-arid and sub-tropical climatic conditions of the continent, its nutritional imbalance can result in a form of hunger known as micronutrient malnutrition. The World Food Programme (WFP) says 100 million people worldwide are threatened by hunger because of the rising food prices widely blamed on bio-fuels.

According to the WFP website, some 820 million hungry people are found in developing countries with three quarters of those living mainly in rural areas mainly in villages of Asia and Africa. Just over 206 million live in sub-Saharan Africa.

  The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), according to the website, calculates that of the developing countries' 820 million hungry, half are farming families surviving off marginal lands prone to natural disasters like drought or floods.

CSIR, with its research presence in Africa being more evident than ever before, has also developed the Botswana National Research Science and Technology Plan to help the country prioritise its Science and Technology  (S&T) and Research and Development (R&D) investments between 2006 and 2011. The plan addresses several socio-economic challenges facing Botswana including economic diversification, poverty, unemployment, HIV/AIDS and the sustainable use of natural resources.

CSIR says the proposed areas of research cover several sectors including health, the service industry, eco-and cultural-tourism, the software industry, manufacturing, mining, water, energy, agriculture, media, education and human resource development, housing and construction as well as transport and logistics.

Besides outlining how priority research areas will meet Botswana's national goals, CSIR says the plan also identifies the human resources and institutional structures required for effective implementation plus an implementation plan with estimated financial costs.

According to CSIR, 'the study revealed that key features of Botswana's national system of innovation included low gross expenditure on R&D, a reasonable publications record, a significant number of women researchers and a relatively well-qualified research workforce.'