16.6 Strategic Planning to Improve South Africa’s Bioeconomy
Among the three pivotal sectors integral to the bioeconomy, the agricultural industry presently yields the most substantial economic impact. Requiring relatively modest capital infrastructure, it stands as a paramount opportunity for addressing poverty, fostering job creation, driving economic development, and ensuring household food security not only in South Africa but also across the African continent and beyond. The primary objective outlined in the Bio-economy Strategy for agriculture is to fortify innovation in agricultural biosciences, with a focus on securing food supplies, improving nutrition, enhancing health outcomes, and facilitating job creation through the expansion and intensification of sustainable agricultural production and processing. These initiatives are strategically aligned with both identified needs and market demand, necessitating active participation from the private sector. Biotechnology assumes a critical role in this endeavor by contributing to the enhancement of crops’ heat resistance and drought tolerance, effectively addressing challenges posed by climate change, water scarcity, grazing limitations, and potential biodiversity loss. The insights and solutions emerging from biotechnology research must be efficiently disseminated to emerging, small-scale, and commercial farmers to ensure widespread implementation and impact. This strategic integration of biotechnological advancements is essential for fostering resilience and sustainability in agriculture while concurrently mitigating the adverse effects of environmental challenges.
Transitioning from a Biotechnology to a Bio-economy Strategy
The plan from the Department of Science and Technology in 2001 wanted to help biotechnology grow. They made special centers like BioPAD and LIFElab for this. They also had programs to help people understand biotechnology better. These centers did a lot—they made new companies, products, and jobs. They also helped people learn more about biotechnology and how to use it. But as they started doing this plan, they realized there were some problems. They focused too much on making money quickly and did not think about all the steps needed for biotechnology things to work well. These centers did great in building things and skills, but now they need to connect biotechnology with things like health, farming, and industry. They believe it is time to look again at this plan because biotechnology can solve many problems in South Africa and the completely African continent. They want to use these biotech ideas in areas like farming and health to help these industries grow better. The goal is to use biotechnology to solve real problems and make different industries better in a sustainable way.