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The Nairobian

Bioeconomy: Key weapon against climate change crisis in Africa

Health Opinion

By Julius Ecuru and Philip Osano | Feb 17, 2025

Farmers at Kiplombe maize farm Uasin Gisu County yesterday. Most farmers in the North Rift region have welcome government initiative of reducing fertilizer prices from Sh 6000 to 3500 arguing that the price should have instead gone down to Sh 2500. August 14, 2022. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Regions, such as Africa, which have significantly lower carbon emissions compared to the rest of the world, could have a competitive advantage in developing sustainable bioeconomies. Africa possesses abundant renewable biological resources, including crops, forests, fish, animals, and microorganisms, which can be utilised in a sustainable manner to produce novel food, safer medicines, environmentally friendly materials, products, textiles, and bioenergy.

The bioeconomy involves using scientific knowledge to add social and economic value to biological resources in an environmentally sustainable way.

A business case for a bioeconomy in Africa can be made across several dimensions: economic stability, biodiversity richness, emerging biotechnology capacity, agricultural potential, and forward-looking bioeconomy policies. Each of these dimensions is explained below. Many African countries now have the fundamentals for economic growth. The African Development Bank (AfDB) 2024 Report projects growth of at least 4.0 per cent per year in the medium term. Much of this growth is driven by investments in the security of persons and property, as well as in infrastructure such as roads, railways, and electricity.

However, growth needs to increase to at least seven per cent per year and be consistently maintained at that level if Africa is to achieve its ambition of attaining upper-middle-income status in the medium and long term. Scholars and policymakers believe that diversifying sources of growth would help the continent reach higher growth rates.

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A bioeconomy arguably offers additional opportunities for economic diversification and growth, and would enable countries to fully benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), which was signed on March 21, 2018, in Kigali, Rwanda (World Bank 2020). An easy way to begin could be by adding value to multiple-use, starchy crops, such as maize, sorghum, and cassava, widely grown in sub-Saharan Africa, which can serve both food and feed needs. Another opportunity lies in developing industrial applications, such as producing sustainable biofuels and industrial chemicals (Duarte Pasa, Almeida Scaldadaferri, and dos Santos Oliveira 2022).

Africa is endowed with rich biodiversity, including plants, animals, insects, and microorganisms, offering a strong foundation for a bioeconomy. This biodiversity also includes important indigenous knowledge, which can lead to scientific discovery. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many African communities turned to herbal remedies. For example, Uganda’s Covidex, developed by Jena Herbals Limited and Mbarara University of Science and Technology, proved effective in relieving severe symptoms (Ogwang et al. 2024). Modern biotechnology, including recombinant DNA (rDNA) in pharmaceuticals, crops, and livestock production, has made significant progress. Experimental trials of genetically modified (GM) crops resistant to diseases have been successfully conducted in many African countries, including Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda, demonstrating efficacy in pest and disease control, as well as drought tolerance.

GM cotton has been widely released commercially in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Sudan, with other countries considering it to boost textile industries. Agriculture provides the primary feedstock for the bioeconomy. Africa holds 60 percent of the world’s arable land (AGRA 2022), which, if sustainably utilised, can provide biomass for the bioeconomy. Countries are keen to reduce agricultural GDP’s share while increasing manufacturing through value addition and agro-processing. In a modern economy,manufacturing should contribute more than 20 percent of GDP (World Bank 2023), offering an opportunity to advance Africa’s bioeconomy. South Africa was the first African country in 2013 to develop a bioeconomy strategy, followed by Namibia in June 2024. The East African Community (EAC) is the first regional economic bloc to create a dedicated bioeconomy strategy (EAC 2022).

Recognising the importance of bioeconomy development, it will increase the economic and social value of regionally traded biologically-based goods. Countries with vibrant bioeconomies will likely fully benefit from the ACFTA, incentivising micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, which constitute a large part of Africa’s economy.

Dr Ecuru is the Head, BioInnovate Africa and Dr Osano is the Director, Stockholm Development Institute Africa Centre.