The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) says Kenya lost 20.4 billion Kenyan shillings (about $158 million) in five years due to delays in adopting biotechnology.

Daniel Willy, senior manager, policy, agribusiness, and commercialisation at AATF, said this on the sidelines of the ongoing World Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) in Kenya.

He said biotechnology remains one of the key scientific tools for improving crop varieties and enhancing food production.

“You can use biotechnology, for example, to help crops protect themselves from pests. The application is used in Tella maize (Bt maize), which enables the crop to resist pests such as stem borers and fall armyworm.

“By so doing, farmers are able to reduce yield losses associated with pest attacks,” he said.

Mr Willy said AATF scientists had also applied biotechnology to fortify crops by adding nutrients, citing maize as an example.

He noted that vitamin A had been introduced into maize to address nutritional deficiencies.

“We have also seen biotechnology used to improve the shelf life of crops like tomatoes, among others.

“Therefore, biotechnology is one tool among many in agriculture that can help farmers improve yields, which directly contributes to food security,” he added.

The AATF official said such innovations were expanding Africa’s potential for food production while helping farmers mitigate the impacts of drought, pests, and diseases.

He explained that AATF had developed numerous hybrid crop varieties through African scientists since the 1970s, including maize, beans, and sorghum.

Mr Willy highlighted Nigeria’s success in commercialising the Pod Borer Cowpea, which resists the maruca pest, as a major biotechnology milestone.

“But maize is also on the continent; it has been commercialised in Nigeria and South Africa, and countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique are now preparing to follow suit,” he said.

He, however, noted that the progress of biotechnology adoption in Africa had been slowed by misinformation and conspiracy theories about its health effects.

According to him, such misconceptions have hindered the commercialisation of biotechnology crops.

“That need not be the case because, by delaying, we are losing a lot as a continent,” he said.

(NAN)