Ames, Iowa, USA
July 20, 2023
The Seed Science Center (SSC) hosted 26 participants from eight countries in Ames, Iowa from May 20-June 05, 2023 as part of a three-year grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS). Now on its second year, this phase involved the training of executives and policymakers, regulators, scientists, and researchers in three countries in Asia (the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) and five in Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania).
The grant is enabling the Seed Science Center to strengthen the capacities of national seed and biosafety authorities in Asia and Africa to conduct research on biotechnology applications, spearhead biotech-related policy reforms, and advance seed production and trade.
“This in-person training included face-to-face components made up of lectures, dialogues, visits to state-of-the-art seed/biotech facilities, exposure to the activities of plant/animal transformation labs, and hands-on laboratory diagnostics,” said Lulu Rodriguez, Interim Director of the SSC. “The training exposed participants to emerging gene editing (GE) technologies and the use of GE tools, as well as biosafety principles and practices in the context of the lifecycle research and development for GE products.”
Trainees were also involved in sessions that focused on how to apply, analyze, and evaluate risk management, risk assessment, and risk communication theories and principles, strategies and tactics.
Titled “Ag biotech and seed systems in Asia and Africa,” the goal is to:
- enhance the understanding of policymakers, regulators, and technical experts about biotechnology applications in crops, livestock, fisheries and aquatic resources, as well as the role of biotechnology in spurring agricultural innovation.
- support the incorporation of biotech and other innovative breeding techniques into seed sector improvement initiatives in order to ensure the availability of high-quality seeds to small-scale producers.
- identify and share ways in which plant and animal biotech can advance food security, and identify policies that ensure farmers’ access to biotech innovations.
- assist participants in developing functional biotech regulatory frameworks for their respective countries.
The project is divided into three phases. The first entailed the online training of 52 participants. Curriculum development for the online training began in the Spring of 2021, and online classes were launched in January 2022 for Asia and February 2022 for Africa. Fourteen instructors from Iowa State, Auburn University, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and private seed systems development entities created video lessons that made up the curriculum’s 24 lessons encapsulated into ten modules.
All 52 participants completed 85% or more of the entire curriculum over a four-month period.
After phase one, FAS Administrator Daniel Whitley stressed the role of biotechnology in ensuring food security in Southeast Asia where “a lot of growth will undoubtedly take place.” “The region’s economic mobility will spur changes in what food items people will consume, and biotechnology can help fulfill that demand,” he added.
When speaking to phase one participants from Africa, Dr. Dejene Girma, Director of Agricultural Biotechnology Research of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), stressed that rapid advancements in modern biotechnology complements conventional plant breeding efforts and make them more efficient through precise identification and introgression of genes in a much shorter time period.
Phase three of the project, to be administered in 2024, entails a week-long on-site training of scientists, researchers, and officers of African biotechnology and seed authorities to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This course will focus on seed systems, plant and animal breeding innovations, plant and animal breeders’ rights, risk analysis and mitigation, stewardship to maintain seed integrity, biotech policy and regulation, and risk communication.
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