Practical Advantages of Plant Biotechnology for Susbsistence Farmers in South Africa

Introduction

Addressing poverty, unemployment and food security in South Africa (SA) is paramount to ensuring a sustainable, healthy and productive nation. The country’s inclement climate has resulted in some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, which are filled with many nutritious plants and animals uniquely adapted to the harsh conditions. Local capital, both human and natural, will facilitate socio-economic growth through mechanisms of biotechnology. These technologies will increase agricultural efficiency and crop productivity by limiting the incidence of pests and disease, by compensating for decreases in soil fertility and increases in soil toxicity, and by mitigating environmental stressors such as excessive heat and drought. Biotechnology also contributes to reductions in food waste, improved food nutrition and job creation. South African subsistence farmers are ideally aligned to capitalise on these advantages and drive grass roots development.

Practical Advantages of Plant Biotechnology

National policies and initiatives driving biotechnology

The drive towards sustainable living presents South African subsistence farmers with opportunities for growth and development. It requires utilising the genetic material of indigenous plants and animals by creating commercial products which feed into consumer demand for ‘green’ local products. The associated value chain of product development and market exposure enables skills development and concomitant socio economic stability.

The South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) has created the National Indigenous Knowledge Systems Office (NIKSO) and subsidiary, the IKS Bioprospecting and Product Development Platform (IKS-BDP), to co-ordinate the development of biotechnology within rural and subsistence communities. The IKS-BDP is divided into three flagships: the African Traditional Medicine flagship (ATM); the Cosmeceutical flagship; and the Nutraceutical flagship. The ATM flagship is focused on plant based traditional medicines. The Cosmeceutical flagship is focused on traditional cosmetic products and their medicinal properties. The Nutraceutical flagship performs research on traditional food and animal feed preparations (Grootboom, Tang and Chabalala 2014).

An example of the IKS informal sector community technology transfer initiative is the Moringa agri-business development, which has developed and utilised genetic material of the the highly nutritious Moringa oleifera tree. The project has created eight distinct commercial Moringa products; royalties are shared equitably among team member organisations. Other crops which show potential for development are montain, fortified sorghum, rooibos and honeybush. (Department of Science and Technology 2013:24).

Biotechnology and increased plant resistance to pests

South African maize and cotton has been genetically modified to resist predation from insects, which increases crop yield and minimises, or eliminates, the requirement for pesticides. Maize crops have been genetically modified to include genes from an insecticidal soil bacterium called Bacillus theringiensis (Bt), which causes the plant to become toxic to susceptible insects (Gouse, Pray, Kirsten and Schimmelpfennig et al 2005:84). Genetically modified South African cotton contains a protein that provides the plant with protection from budworms and bollworms (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications 2014).

Biotechnology and increased plant resistance to disease

A variety of South African crops have been engineered to resist infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses. Potatoes have been engineered with a coat protein of the leaf roll virus to control potato virus Y (Woodward, Brink and Berger 1999:176), and maize has been engineered to resist the fungal pathogen Stenocarpella myadis through the addition of a polyglacturonase-inhibiting protein gene (Woodward, Brink and Berger 1999:177).

Biotechnology and increased plant resistance to herbicides

Herbicide tolerant transgenic crops enable farmers to control weeds cost effectively and in a manner which preserves topsoil. Crop plants are modified in numerous ways: 1) enabling the plant to produce a protein which detoxifies the herbicide; 2) modifying plant proteins to resist the herbicide; 3) creating physical and physiological barriers within the plant to prevent the herbicide from entering the plant; 4) induce glyphosate tolerance by introducing a soil bacterium gene that produces a glyphosate tolerant form of the EPSPS plant enzyme essential to plant physiology; 5) induce glufosinate tolerance by introducing a bacterial gene into the plant, which detoxifies phosphonothricin, the active ingredient in glufosinate which kills plants by blocking the enzyme responsible for nitrogen metabolism and detoxifying ammonia (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications 2014). South African herbicide resistant crops available to local subsistence farmers include argentine canola, cotton, maize and soybean (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications 2014).

Biotechnology and increased plant tolerance to abiotic factors

Potatoes have been engineered to express increased quantities of a CuZn superoxide dismutase gene for increased tolerance to abiotic stress (Woodward, Brink and Berger 1999:176).

Plant biotechnology improves human health by increasing plant nutrition

Sweet potato have been transformed with a gene to increase essential amino acid levels, and as a result contain up to five times the normal protein levels (Woodward, Brink and Berger 1999:176).

Micropropogation and tissue cultures

Micropropogation enables the production of vast quantities of superior genetically uniform plants. Benefits include the elimination of viruses and pathogens from cultivars, rapid propagation, and species reintroduction and preservation (Hopkins and Humer 2009:345). Pathogen free in vitro potato and sweet potato plantlets are produced by the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa, allowing for the rapid and extensive production of quality mini tubers and seeds (Agricultural Research Council 2014). Micropropogation and tissue culture techniques have enabled the reintroduction of the indigenous ‘Livingstone potato’ into communities of SA’s Northern Province. It is a sought after nutritious crop containing high levels of protein and essential amino acids (Woodward, Brink and Berger 1999:176). Other applications of Micropropogation extend into fruit tree cultivars (Agricultural Research Council 2014) and conservation and preservation initiatives concerned with threatened medicinal tree species (Kowalski and van Staden 2001).

Conclusion

Focusing on sustainability concepts within the ambit of the South African agricultural sector by utilising indigenous human and genetic capital will drive grass roots socio-economic development. SA’s untapped biodiversity, which is uniquely adapted to the inherent and inclement environmental conditions provides the genetic wealth for the development and utilisation of plant biotechnology. These technologies are able to mitigate adverse environmental conditions, and increase crops’ resistance to pests, disease and herbicides, thereby creating efficient subsistence agricultural systems which readily produce more, and enhanced, plant products with less inputs.