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Agricultural Biotechnology

The Global Sustainability Challenge

Prem Warrior

Saskatchewan, September 14, 2010

http://www.abic.ca/

© 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | 2

The Challenge: Hunger and Poverty

Hunger and poverty are solvable, as we’ve seen in the past.

BUT…

by 2050

9billion

The world population

will exceed

Poverty is highly

concentrated:

of the ~1 billion

people who live

on $1/day live in

South Asia and

Sub-Saharan Africa

78%

This year, for the

first time ever,

people will go

hungry

1billion

© 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |

Hotter nights threaten Food Security – Rice at risk The impact of Climate change???

3


NAFTA

24.3%

LAM

17.1%

Europe

30.3%

Asia

24.3%

Africa & Middle East

4.0%

45.4% of the Crop Protection market is under threat of water shortage

Water Availability – even Bigger Threat

55

AGRICULTURE IS THE ROUTE OUT OF POVERTY FOR MOST OF THE POOR

Current poverty status: <$1/day 75% of the poor are ruralMore than 2/3rd of the activity carried out by women

Latin America &

Caribbean

46 mil.

people in

poverty

Sub-Saharan

Africa

273 mil.

people in

poverty

South Asia

425 mil.

people in

poverty

E. & S.E. Asia &

Pacific

230 mil.

people in

povertyPrevalence of Poverty (in percent)


However, the Impact of Agriculture is Ignored

Despite its importance, agriculture has been

neglected over the last several decades by both

developing and donor countries—especially in sub-

Saharan Africa.

9/16/2010

Sub-Saharan African government spending on agriculturePercentage of official

development assistance directed to agriculture


The ―Boss‖ - Mrs. Abigail Muhonja

• 1-2 acre land• Limited tools • Reuses old seeds

Little fertilizers• NO Pesticides • Rainfall dependent• Scarce information• No market access• No postharvest• Back breaking work• Eats 1-2 meals/day• No Schooling • Lacks basic things • we take for granted

Our Goal is improve the lives of 150 million of the

small farmers in the poorest regions of the world


All Lives Have Equal Value

8

To whom much has been

given, much is expected.

9 © 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |

How We Got Started

1994 2000 2006

Bill and Melinda

read an article

about rotavirus

They officially

create the

foundation

Warren Buffett

decides to give

Berkshire Hathaway

stock

10 © 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |

Our Grantmaking Areas

25%Global Development

Program

50%Global Health

Program

25%United States

Program

Greater opportunity for all

Americans through the

attainment of secondary and

postsecondary education

Increasing opportunities for

people in developing

countries to lift themselves

out of hunger and poverty

Discover, develop,

and deliver life saving

health solutions to

people that need

them most

$2.6 billion in grants in 2009; $316 MM in Agri development

We are Grant-makers

Our grant-making is based on principles that rely on selecting grants which have the potential to be:

1. Effective in addressing a problem that has received insufficient

attention and has potential for a significant breakthrough

2. Scalable so solutions can ultimately reach many of the people who need

them most

3. Sustainable through long-term operations, partnerships and financing

4. We are Risk takers.


Choosing Our Areas of FocusA few key questions have driven our decisions about where we focus:

• What are the greatest inequities? What issues affect the most

people?

• What issues have been neglected?

• What is the potential for change?

• Does it fit with the way we work?

• Where can we make the greatest impact??

9/16/2010


Our Approach to Giving

Four Steps:

Develop Strategy

Make Grants

Measure Progress

Adjust Strategy

1DevelopStrategy

2MakeGrants

3MeasureProgress

4AdjustStrategy

9/16/2010

Agricultural Development Strategy

• Focus on small farms

• Meet the needs of Women

• Protect the environment

• Invest in innovation, take risks

• Develop market opportunities

• Bring success to scale

• Measure impact, adjust and share our learning

• Partner with others, listen to external voices

• Commit for the long haul


Linking the Agricultural Value Chain -Support the Range of Farmers’ Needs

1. Science and Technology 2. Farmer Productivity 3. Market Access

4. Policy and Statistics

• Water

• Gender

• Fertilizer

• Training

• Extension

• R&D on crop improvement -

Seeds

• Crop management – risk

reduction

• Input technologies

• Livestock

• Access to markets

• Structured demand

• Cash crops

• Data and statistics • Research and analysis • Advocacy and policy change • Learning and improvement

Partnership with Coca cola

World Food Program – P4P

Soil Health ProgramAGRA – PASS

Nitrogen Fixation


Biotechnology continues to be The News

Biotech crops commercialized• South Africa - maize, cotton, soybean• Egypt - maize• Burkina Faso - cotton

Biotech crops with field trials• South Africa – potatoes, wheat, etc.• Kenya – cotton, maize, sweet potato• Egypt – cotton• Uganda – banana, cotton, cassava, maize, etc.• Nigeria – cowpea, cassava+• Zimbabwe – tobacco

•Lack of biosafety regulations is the biggest limitation to biotech growth

•Accurate information is critical

•There is increasing support to test biotech in several countries

Burkina Faso

Nigeria

Egypt

Kenya

Uganda

South Africa

Zimbabwe

NoneTrialsCommercial

Source: African Biosafety Network of Expertise

Biotechnology in Africa

African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), CIMMYT, Monsanto, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa

Challenge: Drought plagues production, causes losses, hunger, riskProject: Public-private partnership to use world’s best molecular breeding capacity and new drought tolerance transgene, donated royalty free, to create improved maize adapted for Africa

Without gene With gene

Water Efficient Maize for Africa - WEMA

© 2009 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Science 2008

Develop and disseminate rice varieties that can survive flood, drought,

and other stresses in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

Submergent Tolerant Rice (Swarna sub-1)

Danforth Plant Science Center, IITA-Nigeria, ETH Switzerland, Bath University (U.K.), Governments of Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria

Challenge: Micronutrient deficiencies in cassava-eating populations

Project: Genetic engineering has created cassava with higher levels of iron, zinc, proVitamin A and protein; combining traits and field trials in Puerto Rico and Nigeria

BioCassava PLUS

Tel Aviv University

When Livestock Is A Necessity, Not A Choice

22

Livestock is 30-40% of

poor shareholder income

When Livestock is not a Choice, but a Necessity

Our Approach To Livestock

23

Focus

Income generation for smallholders & nutrition

Limited set of high leverage interventions: sustainability &

scale

Areas of interest:

Animal breeding and genetics, animal health, animal nutrition,

husbandry, market linkages

• Species: cattle (dairy & beef), small ruminants, chicken

• Geographies: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia

• Current grants:

• EADD (milk-chilling hubs)

• Care Bangladesh (improved dairy genetics distribution),

• GALVmed (vaccines development and distribution),

• BAIF (improved dairy genetics distribution),

• African Cattle Genetics (DNA testing cattle)

• Diagnostics (low cost, point of care tests)

• Disease Resistant Livestock (using stem cells)

Key issues

• Data availability &

quality

• Research &

technologies: pen-side

diagnostics,

recombinant vaccines,

embryo AI, stem cells,

gene marker tests,

gender-determined

semen.

• Technology delivery:

Veterinarians, Animal

Health Technicians,

Community Animal

Health Workers.

• Crop linkage: animal

feed

A partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation

University of Kwa-Zulu Natal

African Centre for Crop Improvement

Class 2005

Train next generation

of crop breeders in

Africa

Fund national breeding

programs for locally

adapted varieties

Promote a seed production

industry

Build distribution

networks through agro

dealers

Program for African

Seed Systems

(PASS)

COST: $150 million over 5 years

WHERE: WCA (5)- Burkina Faso,

Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria AND

ESA (8) - Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,

Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania,

Uganda, and Zambia.

OUTPUTS:

•100 new and improved varieties

•220 new African crop scientists

•1.5 million hectares

•10,000 small businesses

OUTCOME:

•Food production up 20-30%

http://www.agra-alliance.org/

Soil Fertility – Nitrogen Formulations, Delivery, Biological fixation

N-fixing cereals?

Can we modify

bacterial (rhizobial)

strains to adapt to

cereals??

Nature 417:962–966;

PNAS 2008

The Sustainability Challenge

• Interdisciplinary approaches, relevant to context

• Engaging women in decision making

• Technological improvements including

- Addressing soil, water and biotic constraints

- Improved seeds, inputs, delivery

- Reduced tillage & Water harvesting

- improved animal breeds, integration of crops

with livestock

- Global information systems for landscape

• Market access

• Local capacity building

• Policy & Institutional reforms

• Our Voice

Bridging the Gaps – ―Last Mile Delivery‖

"Giving Voice to the Voiceless" Farm Radio International

One size does not fit all

http://www.digitalgreen.org/

http://www.technologyreview.com/


Agricultural Biotechnology

will help produce more

food with less land, water,

fertilizer, pesticides

Clic

k

t

Thank you

If you want to go fast, go alone. If

you want to go far, go together…….

[African proverb]

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