Seed breeding is an engine of SA agricultural progress

My Talking Head at SACTA

Earlier today, we participated in the South African Cultivar and Technology Agency (SACTA) 's Annual Stakeholder Engagement Meeting.

Our remarks were mainly on the value of "seed breeding" to our agricultural progress, and comments on the present-day realities of trade friction.

Amongst other things, we noted that South Africa's agriculture must constantly monitor global developments and risks that could undermine its competitiveness in the world market as an export-oriented sector. Several environmental, social, and political risks remain at the top of farmers' and agribusiness leaders' minds.

However, one issue that is not always fully appreciated is the contribution of agricultural input providers—various agrochemicals and seed breeding. The lack of public focus mainly stems from consumers and policymakers monitoring the end products: harvest size and, in animals, the health and expansion of herds.

Rare appreciation of technological advancement

Since 1994, South Africa's agricultural value has more than doubled. Two significant catalysts are at the centre of this progress: the expansion of export markets, which creates a demand for products; the early adoption of high-yielding seed varieties in crops; the improvement of animal genetics; and the use of agrochemicals to nurture the sector.

South Africa was especially embracing technological advancement in ways that much of the African continent was not, thus setting the country apart from much of Africa in terms of its yields. This technological embrace primarily explains higher crop yields in South Africa compared to some of the neighbouring African countries with even better climatic conditions. A case in point is South Africa's embrace of genetically modified crops, whose adoption in the early 2000s saw maize and soybean yields improve notably over time, thus keeping the country a net exporter and boosting food availability domestically.

With this encouraging track record in embracing science, a semi-arid country like South Africa should invest more resources in science today, where climate change and changing geopolitical environments have introduced new risks, and each country should strive to improve its food security.

Fortunately, South Africa has a thriving private-sector-led agricultural sector. Resources have been channelled into research and could continue to be devoted to this effort. While the government's spending on research and development has continued to fall, the private sector has significantly increased its research and development.

Still, the country's regulators, specifically the Department of Agriculture, need to share the urgency of the present moment and productively support technological advancement.

Such support would come from constructively evaluating the various agrochemicals and seeds the private sector offers and registering them for use after satisfying the testing. The process, though, needs to be faster and more agile and not confined to the usual organised agriculture and government politics.

What must be done?

What should be a priority is the health, improvement, sustainability, and competitiveness of South African agriculture. This is a perspective through which the regulators should engage the input providers and private sector researchers.

A case in point of legislative work that needs to be revamped and modernised is Act 36 of 1947, the Fertilisers, Farm Feeds, Seeds and Remedies Act. This act regulates the registration of fertilisers, farm feeds, sterilising plants, and specific remedies.

Even countries that have always maintained a sluggish view of scientific progress in agriculture, like the European Union, are suddenly changing their approaches. For example, on 07 February 2024, the European Parliament issued a statement highlighting that they have adopted a "position for negotiations with member states on the Commission proposal on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), which alter the genetic material of an organism, with 307 votes to 263 and 41 abstentions."

The European Parliament further stated that "the objective is to make the food system more sustainable and resilient by developing improved plant varieties that are climate resilient, pest resistant, and give higher yields or that require fewer fertilisers and pesticides."

Currently, in the EU, "all plants obtained by NGTs are subject to the same rules as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) agree with the proposal to have two different categories and two sets of rules for NGT plants. NGT plants considered equivalent to conventional ones (NGT 1 plants) would be exempted from the requirements of the GMO legislation, whereas other NGT plants (NGT 2 plants) would still have to follow stricter requirements. MEPs want to keep mandatory labelling of products from both NGT 1 and NGT 2 plants."

Take away

South Africa should also review its regulations on gene-editing matters to be at the forefront, as the country has been within acceptable health regulations in the past two decades. The goal should be to support a growing and competitive agricultural sector.

Trade and science have been at the centre of South Africa's agricultural progress, which should continue today.

The Talk will be online soon.