Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
TIA supports technologies to help improve food security
The Technology Innovation Agency promotes the development of discoveries, inventions and innovations in the public interest.
South Africa’s Bioeconomy Strategy was published in 2013 with a vision for the bioeconomy to be a significant contributor to the country’s GDP and economy by 2030. The Bioeconomy Strategy provides an economic engine for the new economy that will, in turn, provide a basis for future growth.
The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), is the implementing agent of this strategy. TIA funds and supports technology innovations that can be commercialised to improve the competitiveness of the South African economy.
TIA supports the translation of South Africa’s knowledge resources into sustainable bio-based solutions for impact through the convergence of specific focus areas, namely health, indigenous knowledge systems, agriculture and industrial biotechnology. In addition, TIA manages crosscutting technology platforms, technology innovation clusters and technology stations programmes.
South Africa’s thriving bioeconomy has the potential to make the country more competitive internationally, particularly in the industrial and agricultural sectors, create more sustainable jobs, enhance food security, and create a greener economy as the country shifts towards a low-carbon economy.
Agriculture is a key contributor to the economic development and GDP of South Africa and is central to sustaining employment opportunities, fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving food security. The 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation highlights inclusivity, transformation, and partnerships.
In line with the White Paper, TIA continuously strives to increase the role of previously disadvantaged individuals, in innovation. This includes innovative models and strategies that can enhance the participation of smallholder farmers and rural communities in the agricultural value chain.
There has been growing recognition of the vital role that smallholder farmers play in Africa’s agricultural landscape. However, ensuring their meaningful inclusion in the value chain remains a challenge. Through programmes such as the Agriculture Bioeconomy Innovation Partnership Programme (ABIPP), implemented by TIA on behalf of the DSI, TIA ensures that smallholder and emerging farmers have access to innovative technologies that will result in improved yields, access to markets and agroprocessing technologies. ABIPP was established to support the agricultural bioeconomy. It facilitates, coordinates and funds multiinstitutional, multi-stakeholder and co-funded agricultural bioeconomy initiatives, contributing to increased productivity, food security and rural economic development. One of the initiatives funded by TIA within ABBIPP is the Soybean Food and Nutrition Programme, co-funded with the Oil & Protein Seed Development Trust. The programme focuses on skills transfer through training of rural communities and individuals in planting, harvesting and processing of soybean crops. The programme has five initiatives including assisting black emerging farmers to plant soybean and become commercial farmers.
In 2022, 88 black farmers, 36% of whom were women, benefitted from the project through technology innovation support. This included assistance with seeds, inputs, and training on agronomic practices. The farmers on the programme planted a total of 167ha of soybean. Through ABBIPP, TIA partnered with Grain SA on the Small-scale Farmer Development Programme, where small farmers were trained on the agroprocessing of maize. The agroprocessing included nixtamalisation, with farmers being trained on the production of nutritional food products.
IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIPS
A vital element to the success of TIA’s strategy to deliver on its mandate is continuous engagement with various stakeholders in the NSI, industry and the public sector. This is achieved through establishing mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborating with like-minded organisations, locally and internationally.
In its role as industry builder, TIA established the Technology Cluster Model as an innovative approach to supporting industry value chains and stimulating interventions that facilitate sector engagement through a cross-cutting approach. Four biobased Technology Innovation Clusters have been funded by TIA, including the Animal Health Cluster, Forest Bioeconomy Innovation Cluster, Beef
Genomics Programme and the Dairy Genomics Programme.
As part of the Dairy Genomics Programme,
TIA signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Milk SA to explore opportunities as joint ecosystem builders. Through the collaboration the entities will support projects that can benefit the dairy industry, contribute to the competitiveness of the industry, and broaden the market for milk and dairy products. In addition, the collaboration seeks to empower emerging dairy farmers to become commercially viable.
TIA’s interventions in the agricultural sector have significant potential to help ensure food security. Animal diseases, including zoonotic diseases, remain a challenge for the agriculture sector. These negatively affect food safety and thus food security. In the absence of strategies to curb diseases such as foot-and-mouth-disease and avian influenza, the immediate response is to cull the animals, which results in a shortage of produce and economic losses for farmers.
DEVELOPING VACCINES
Immunising animals is generally accepted as the most cost-effective and sustainable method of disease control and eradication. As part of the Animal Health Cluster, TIA funded Onderstepoort Biological Products to develop vaccines against deadly animal diseases such as botulism, black quarter, pasteurella, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and parainfluenza type 3.
South Africa has recently been affected by avian flu outbreaks in various provinces. Avian flu usually infects wild birds but can also infect commercial or domestic poultry. Once this virus is detected on a farm, there is usually a need to cull birds to prevent further infections. This poses a significant risk to the country’s food security, especially given the dependence of many households on chicken as an affordable protein. Enabled by funding from TIA, the University of Pretoria, in collaboration with the CSIR, has successfully developed four enzyme-linked immunoassay tests to detect chicken or ostrich antibodies. The successful upscaling and piloting of these tests provides a rapid test to alert poultry farmers of infection to take steps to prevent the spread of the virus on the farm. This test would benefit various customers, from the local and regional market to the global export market.
Eggs are prone to salmonella and avian flu infection. TIA has funded a consortium comprising the CSIR, Delphius and the University of Pretoria, to develop a two-lane prototype microwave egg pasteuriser machine.
The consortium successfully developed the only commercial modular, scaleable dry pasteurisation process with low reject and breakage rate. This technology enables the export of pasteurised eggs into global markets as they meet EU and US FDA regulations. The technology was licensed, and the prototype machine evaluated in a commercial environment. Valuable feedback to refine development and pre-orders have been received from industry following a successful commercial trial.
Food safety is vital to the agriculture value chain. Mycotoxins pose a major food safety hazard, and exposure to high levels of mycotoxins such as aflatoxin B1 is associated with fatal human diseases such as liver cancer.
TIA funded the CSIR to develop three complementary products: a lateral flow rapid diagnostic test kit, mycotoxin standards, and recombinant monoclonal antibodies for mycotoxin testing. They are all positioned to address food safety issues, quality control issues on food and feed commodities, especially at export markets.