BIO4Africa delegates from Africa and the EU urge African governments to enable the transformation to a bio-based economy.

Governments must act now to help bring new bio-based technologies to market that can protect the environment, create revenue and jobs, and secure a sustainable food supply.

This was the strong message from African and EU delegates at the BIO4Africa policy roundtable in Brussels.

With many African countries today feeling the impact of climate change and environmental degradation, change can hardly come fast enough.

More than 40 policy gaps
For the past four years, BIO4Africa has piloted bio-based technologies that utilise agricultural waste streams in rural Africa, creating new, sustainable revenue sources for smallholder farmers.

AATF has identified more than 40 policy gaps that are slowing the implementation of new technologies and the overall transition to a bio-based economy. These challenges and the recommendations to overcome them are included in four BIO4Africa policy briefs for Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Uganda.

The policy briefs are the outcome of an extensive analysis of the existing policy situation in the four countries and dialogue workshops with local stakeholders, who included representatives from rural farming communities, universities, private sector and the government.

It was the policy brief recommendations that the 28 delegates from African government ministries and academia, the European Commission and the BIO4Africa project had come to discuss.

Costs are critical
Roundtable chair and senior manager at AATF, Daniel Kyalo Willy launched the panel debate with a clear statement about the need for long-term regional and national strategies for bioeconomy development.

“Beyond research, bio-based innovations have to be scaled in a way that they bring transformation. Costs are critical. Technologies need to be affordable. Sustainable production is not about doing this for just one or two years.,” he said.

Urgent challenges
The delegates agreed that population growth, widespread deforestation and the dangers of indiscriminate waste disposal are urgent challenges in Africa, where the impact of climate change is increasingly evident. As the continent with the world’s youngest population, more training opportunities are required to tackle the high rate of youth unemployment.

“It is imperative that we talk about wise use of resources so we can cater for the growing population needs. I’m happy this project is looking at that,” said Willy Ofwono Osinde, principal of the Fisheries Training Institute in Uganda.

Invest in public-private partnerships
Another key point of the panel discussion was the need for more public-private partnerships. Director of communication, outreach and partnerships at the African Centre for Technology Studies, Catherine Kilelu highlighted the need to engage the private sector in more research.

“The innovation eco-system that’s emerging around certain bioeconomy agendas cannot only be a research agenda. It’s also an industrial agenda,” she said.

While some governments are taking steps to engage the private sector in research – delegates mentioned both Uganda and Kenya – a major hurdle to technology transfer remains: the shortage of funding.

Strategic African-EU partnership
One intercontinental source of financial support that is currently available is the AU/EU Innovation Agenda, the strategic partnership established between the African Union and the European Union in 2023. Policy officer on international cooperation at the European Commission, Jens Hoegel reaffirmed the EU’s willingness to continue supporting sustainable and inclusive development at local level in Africa.

“BIO4Africa is a very good example of tangible outputs that could be picked up by policymakers and investors,” he added.

After the discussion, Daniel Kyalo Willy expressed his satisfaction with the delegates’ input and reflections on the policy brief recommendations. This will now be used to update the recommendations and draw up a roadmap to policy reform.