The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001.  Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date.  This site is not updated so external links may no longer function.  Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

James Schroeder, Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, USDA Remarks, Strategic Alliance for Biotechnology Research in African Development (SABRAD), Workshop on Biotechnology Accra, Ghana, November 11, 2000

I am proud to be a part of this week's workshop, the first activity under the SABRAD Alliance. The idea for this week's workshop was born out of fruitful discussions at an agribusiness workshop here in Accra that was a part of the African-African American Summit in May 1999. At that meeting, Dr. Suchet Louis of Tuskegee University, who is the co-chairman of this week's workshop, raised the issue of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) collaboration on agricultural research with African institutes, government agencies, and farmers. Just a few months later, the SABRAD Alliance grew out of a Memorandum of Cooperation among USDA, the 1890 Land-Grant Universities, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) , such as International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and African research and higher education institutions. Dr. Louis' idea is now a reality. U.S. Partnership With Africa This Alliance and this workshop are just one part of a strong, sustained commitment to Africa on the part of USDA and President Clinton. The Clinton Administration has shown an interest in and a concern for Africa that is simply unmatched in American history. Our policy in trade, agriculture, or, indeed, any other area, is one of forging stronger partnerships. Last May, President Clinton signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This legislation recognizes and seeks to reward political and economic liberalization. It offers a solid, meaningful, and significant opportunity for increased trade and economic cooperation between the United States and eligible sub-Saharan African countries. It is expected to result in billions of dollars in new trade and investment flows. Early last month, President Clinton signed the proclamation designating 34 sub-Saharan African countries that will receive increased trade and development benefits under AGOA, including duty-free treatment for essentially all products. We will continue to work closely on AGOA implementation. Research and Africa I am excited about the SABRAD Alliance because it fulfills important goals for Africa and agricultural research. It is important because it makes African scientists our partners in biotechnology development. As our Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has said, all the research we do will mean nothing if no one trusts the science behind improved crops. This is a chance to build that trust through shared knowledge and opportunity. This workshop is just one step in an ongoing partnership in technology transfer. Africa has some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world. We all have benefited from that diversity. Today, there is a great deal of research between USDA and the countries all over the African continent that focuses on cooperative biotech research projects for small-scale farming and economic development. The need for more research has never been greater. There are more than 6 billion [thousand million] people in the world and we need to have a system in place to feed them. While sub-Saharan Africa is projected to account for only 25% of the world's population in 2008, the region is expected to account for nearly 80% of the nutrition gap -- domestic supply and minimum nutrition requirement. USDA is committed to a long-term strategy to support research and technical assistance aimed at improving African food production and security. Biotechnology to improve African food production and security must play a role in this strategy. Biotechnology -- The Promise and the Perils Biotechnology offers one of the most promising tools for meeting future demand for an abundant, affordable, nutritious, and safe global food supply. It holds the potential for reducing the use of crop chemicals, fossil fuels, and, water. We can bring the benefits of biotechnology to the world faster when we work together. There are debates in both developed and developing countries regarding biotechnology. There are biophysical points of contention (i.e., food safety, environmental safety) and there are social points of contention (i.e., intellectual property rights, organic certification, and marketing standards). Ongoing science and dialogue -- exemplified by SABRAD -- are necessary to generate and share the information that will allow us to make comfortable and beneficial decisions, and fuel new debates. With strong science-based regulation and evaluation, completely open to public scrutiny, biotechnology promises to transform agriculture as we know it and enhance our ability to feed a population that is expected to top 9 billion people by mid-century. Some people will always focus on the risks of new technologies. I understand their concerns. However, there are also risks in NOT taking advantage of the benefits that new technologies may offer. In the words of Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture Hassan Adamu in an opinion piece on biotechnology in Africa for the Washington Post not long ago: "We will proceed carefully and thoughtfully, but we want to have the opportunity to save the lives of millions of people and change the course of history in many nations." His point, well taken, is that anti-biotechnology groups in developed countries have the luxury of speaking from a well-fed perspective. There are 800 million people in the world who are food insecure and do not have that luxury. Poverty and malnutrition are such large, pressing problems that we cannot afford to rule out approaches like biotechnology that demonstrate potentials to benefit humanity. Biotechnology should be one of the tools -- along with traditional breeding methods -- that we can use to manage food production in a sustainable way. According to Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, without biotechnology, there is no chance that conventional technology alone can help meet demand for increased food supplies to feed a growing population. G Despite substantial progress during the past quarter century, many countries, particularly here in Africa, have been unable to achieve sustained gains in agricultural output. Biotechnology holds promise for changing that picture and for poverty alleviation. Increasing farm productivity will raise incomes of the rural poor and free up workers to support growth in manufacturing and service sector jobs. Raising agricultural productivity will be crucial to any strategy to increase economic growth and decrease poverty levels. Challenges to Acceptance of Biotechnology But the challenges to acceptance of biotechnology are many. They include things such as environmental impact, risk assessment, rules-based systems for trade in biotech products, development of sound science-based regulatory processes, and food safety. Challenges to the acceptance of biotechnology include political as well as technical aspects. To this point, the scientific community has developed biotechnology responsibly. It is critical that we maintain this course to build confidence among the public at large, who rarely grasp advanced science; any other course will fuel public fears, which could retard scientific progress at a high price for humanity. That was part of the challenge of the discussions of the past 2 days -- how do we get people to appreciate biotechnology's benefits and risks? How do we increase funding for research in biotechnology? How do we handle the challenges facing stakeholders? The results of your discussions in the various working groups will bring us closer to helping biotechnology realize its potential here in Africa. While there is a great deal left to do in our work, I feel we have made substantial progress over the past 2 days. I want to thank you for your efforts. Finally, I want to encourage participation on the part of Africa in the international fora where biotechnology is being discussed and rules are being formulated. By these I mean the World Trade Organization, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other international organizations. We need more courageous people like Minister Adamu to make themselves and their concerns heard not just in the press but in the meetings and conferences where policy is being decided. Thank you. Biotechnology | Economic Policy | Economic and Business Affairs | Department of State