Review of the Policy, Regulatory Mechanisms and Administration of Biosafety in Eastern and Southern Africa: A study of Kenya, South Africa, Malawi and the ASARECA initiative
This report summarises the results of a review of the policy, regulatory mechanisms and 
administration of biosafety in Kenya, Malawi and South Africa and under the ASARECA regional 
initiative. The report focuses on the current situation and provides insights as to the form that 
developments in the area of regulation of biotechnology are likely to take. 
The first section is an introduction, which provides the definition and scope of biotechnology as 
used in this report. It provides a brief status of agricultural research; the areas of research and the 
actors involved in biotechnology in the study countries. With the exception of South Africa, 
experimentation in transgenic crops is still under development. Most of the current agricultural 
biotechnology R&D activities focus on improving crop productivity. The actors are mainly National 
Agriculture Research Institutes, International Agricultural Research Centres and universities. 
Private sector involvement is in the form of multinational companies. 
The second section discusses the frameworks for the regulation of biotechnology. These include 
international obligations, regional attempts, as well as national efforts in regulating biotechnology in 
the study countries. Regulation at the national level has been in the form of national policies, 
national strategies and through legislation. In Kenya and in most countries under the ASARECA 
initiative, acts of parliament are yet to be enacted. The proposed bill and regulations in Kenya and 
the proposed regional regulatory structure under ASARECA are discussed with the aim of 
providing an insight as to the trend regulation in these jurisdictions is likely to take. 
The third section is a discussion on institutional arrangements in the field of agricultural 
biotechnology. Who are the institutional actors? What are the synergies? What is the institutional 
capacity in terms of human resources and physical infrastructure? This section also explores the 
commercialisation and innovation attempts in the study countries. It examines public perception 
and acceptance of modern biotechnology and ends with a brief mention on intellectual property 
protection in the study countries. South Africa has a developed institutional structure with 
impressive facilities and adequate human resource capacity. Critical mass in modern biotechnology 
in the other study countries is yet to be attained. Facilities for experimentation in GM technology 
are likewise lacking in Kenya, Malawi and other ASARECA countries. 
The fourth section summarises the review and presents the way forward. South Africa is best 
placed to handle applications for testing transgenics such as the rosette-resistant groundnut 
developed by ICRISAT. A representative from the Malawi biosafety committee should be involved 
in the testing of the groundnuts in RSA as part of a capacity building exercise and also to pave the 
way for the testing of the groundnuts in Malawi. In Kenya, there are indications that once an event 
is approved elsewhere, it is likely to receive timely approval subject to any additional testing that 
the National Biosafety Board may deem necessary. ICRISAT would have to collaborate with the 
KARI Institutional Biosafety Committee through which the application to the National Biosafety 
Committee would be made.
Governing the GM crop revolution: policy choices for developing countries
Will developing countries adopt policies that promote the planting of genetically modified (GM) crops, or will they select policies that slow the spread of the GM crop revolution? The evidence so far is mixed. In some prominent countries such as China, policies are in place that encourage the independent development and planting of GM crops. Yet in a number of other equally prominent countries the planting of GM crops is not yet officially approved. The inclination of developing countries to promote or block the spread of GM crops can be judged by the policy choices they make in five separate areas: intellectual property rights (IPR) policy, biosafety policy, trade policy, food safety policy, and public research investments. Paarlberg discusses various policy options related to GM crops: (1) Intellectual Property Rights; (2) Biosafety; (3) Trade; (4) Food Safety and Consumer Choice; and (5) Public Research Investments. The appropriate policies for each of these must be adopted by developing countries.
Germination ecology of Central Asian Stipa spp: differences among species, seed provenances, and the importance of field studies
Stipa-species are wide-spread in Central Asia, but sexual reproduction in the dry steppes is rare. To facilitate conservation and restoration of these important rangelands, we studied germination characteristics of three common Mongolian Stipa-species under field- and lab conditions. Seeds of Stipa krylovii, Stipa gobica and Stipa glareosa were sown at the study site in Southern Mongolia over two consecutive years during which period tests were carried out to ascertain whether competition or herbivory are the main constraints of seedling establishment. In addition, we tested germination and seed viability in the laboratory under two different temperature regimes (20/10°C and 8/4°C), as well as the effect of cold-stratification. The lab experiments also included S. krylovii seeds originating from three climatically different provenances. None of the three Stipa-species seedlings emerged during the first 2 years of the field study. However, after an unusually intense rain event in the third year, 3% of S. krylovii, 0.6% of S. glareosa and 0.1% of S. gobica seeds germinated in the study plots. The factors ‘sowing-year’ and ‘vegetation’ significantly affected seedling emergence, whereas grazing had no effect at all. Under laboratory conditions a high percentage of viable seeds of S. gobica and S. glareosa germinated at both incubation temperatures, and cold-stratification had no effect on germination or viability. Germination of S. krylovii seeds required warmer temperatures and cold-stratification had a positive effect. Such evidence for dormancy was more pronounced in seeds from the moister, northern provenances. Germination of Stipa-species in the field is rare and only possible under exceptionally moist conditions. Conservation should thus concentrate on steppe conservation rather than on restoration. Where artificial reseeding is necessary, differences among species and also among different seed provenances should be taken into account.