Africa Must Convert Biotechnology Into Wealth, Not Just Export Raw Biomass, Expert Argues
核心洞察
Innovation expert Obichi Obiajunwa called on Africa to move beyond exporting biological raw materials and build systems to convert scientific knowledge into high-value products, industries, and jobs.
He described Africa's "biomass paradox," noting the continent holds over 60% of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land yet captures only a small share of value from commodities like cocoa.
Obiajunwa proposed replacing the "relay race" innovation model with a "tennis doubles" approach, where scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and regulators collaborate from the earliest stages.
Africa must move beyond the production and export of biological raw materials and build stronger systems for converting its scientific knowledge and biological resources into high-value products, industries and jobs, innovation expert Obichi Obiajunwa has said.
Obiajunwa made the call while delivering a plenary lecture titled "From Bench to Bioeconomy: Industrial Biotechnology, Circular Economy Models, and the Pathway to Sustainable Wealth Creation in Africa" at the 38th Annual Conference of the Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (搜索) (BSN), held at Abdulkadir Kure University, Minna, Niger State. The conference, themed "Advancing Safe Biotechnology for Sustainable Wealth Creation," brought together stakeholders from academia, research, industry and the biotechnology community to examine how biotechnology can contribute to sustainable development and wealth creation in Nigeria and Africa.
Africa's Biomass Paradox
Obiajunwa described the situation as Africa's "biomass paradox": the continent possesses enormous biological resources and produces significant quantities of agricultural commodities, yet much of the higher-value processing and manufacturing associated with those resources takes place elsewhere.
He pointed to Africa's biological abundance as a major economic opportunity, noting that more than 60 per cent of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land is in Africa. He also drew attention to the cocoa industry, where Africa produces the majority of the world's cocoa but captures only a small proportion of the value generated by the global chocolate market.
"The question is how much value we can create and retain from what we produce," Obiajunwa said, arguing that Africa must increasingly move from exporting biological raw materials to developing the technologies, industries, intellectual property and manufacturing capacity required to transform those resources into higher-value products.
The Science Is Not the Bottleneck
Obiajunwa cautioned against the assumption that Africa's principal problem is the absence of scientific innovation. He cited African biotechnology successes, including Aflasafe (搜索), a biological solution for reducing aflatoxin contamination; NoduMax (搜索), a legume biofertilizer; and Bt cowpea (搜索), an insect-resistant crop approved for cultivation in Nigeria. These examples, he said, demonstrate that African researchers and institutions are capable of developing biotechnology solutions with practical applications.
The bigger challenge begins after scientific validation. A technology can work in the laboratory and still fail to become a successful enterprise because of inadequate commercial evaluation, inappropriate financing, limited pilot-scale infrastructure, regulatory uncertainty or weak connections between research institutions and industry. He described this gap as the "valley of death" between scientific innovation and commercial scale.
From Relay Race to Tennis Doubles
Using a sporting analogy, Obiajunwa argued that innovation is too often organised like a relay race, in which the scientist completes the research and hands the innovation to an entrepreneur, who later seeks financing, while regulators and other stakeholders become involved at different stages.
He proposed a different model, which he described as "tennis doubles," under which scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, regulators, manufacturers and other stakeholders work together earlier in the innovation process. "The journey from bench to market should not be a sequence of disconnected handovers. It should be a coordinated system," he said.
Turning Waste Into Wealth
The lecture also examined the potential of the circular bioeconomy to create additional value from Africa's biological resources. Obiajunwa identified agricultural residues such as cassava peels, rice husks, sugarcane bagasse and oil-palm residues as examples of materials that are often regarded as waste but could serve as feedstocks for new products and industries.
He distinguished between cascading and regenerative approaches. A cascading model asks how many useful products can be created from a biological resource before it becomes waste, while a regenerative model asks how the system itself can become healthier and more productive when the cycle begins again. "Africa needs both," he said.
Regulation as Bioeconomy Infrastructure
Another major theme of the lecture was biosafety and regulatory governance. Obiajunwa challenged the perception that regulation is necessarily a constraint on innovation, arguing that effective regulation should instead be regarded as infrastructure for the bioeconomy. Investors need predictable rules, innovators need clear regulatory pathways, and consumers need confidence in biotechnology products.
He pointed to existing African institutions as evidence that regional regulatory and intellectual property harmonisation is possible, citing the African Medicines Agency (搜索) and regional intellectual property systems as examples of African countries developing institutions that operate across national borders.
Who Captures the Value?
Obiajunwa said biotechnology policy should not be measured only by the number of research papers produced or technologies developed. It should also consider the number of technologies commercialised, companies created, products manufactured, intellectual property retained, investments mobilised and skilled jobs generated.
He called for closer collaboration between universities, research institutes, government agencies, investors and industry to create an ecosystem capable of taking promising innovations from the laboratory to commercial scale. The transition, he said, should ultimately enable African countries to become not only producers of biological raw materials but also developers, manufacturers, owners and exporters of higher-value biological products.
The lecture concluded with a call for a more integrated approach to Africa's bioeconomy, bringing together science, markets, circular economy design, regulation, finance, infrastructure and societal trust. Obiajunwa proposed the idea of a National Biotechnology Innovation Challenge, which he offered to support the BSN in designing and implementing.
Safe Biotechnology for Wealth Creation
The emphasis on responsible application was echoed by Rufus Ebegba, the pioneer director-general of the National Biosafety Management Agency (搜索) (NBMA), who called for responsible biotechnology application to promote wealth creation and sustainable development in Nigeria.
"Modern biotechnology can transform agriculture, improve food security, strengthen healthcare delivery, support industrial development, enhance environmental management and create employment opportunities for Nigerians across various sectors," Ebegba said. "Maximising biotechnology benefits requires strong biosafety governance, effective laws, competent regulatory institutions, risk assessment, monitoring, public participation, research capacity and adequate funding."
According to Ebegba, Nigeria's Biosafety Management Act and the NBMA provide important frameworks for regulating genetically modified organisms and emerging biotechnology applications, ensuring that biotechnology innovations are developed and deployed responsibly while safeguarding human health, biodiversity and the environment from potential risks.