The bioeconomy is important for Africa, offering huge potential and opportunity.
It is linked to key global issues that are especially relevant to the continent: the global shift towards eco-friendly practices and sustainable green economies; actions to counter environmental damage and climate change; rapidly expanding population growth alongside rapid urbanisation; food security challenges; health challenges; and the need for clean energy and water.
Given these linkages, strengthening Africa’s bioeconomy will help leverage a vast range of benefits across a broad spectrum of sectors and issues. The opportunities for South Africa are considerable, given its large and diversified economy and capacity for supporting research & development (R&D) with enriching innovative actions.
The key to tapping into the potential offered by the bioeconomy will be multistakeholder partnerships, especially between the government and business. The emphasis placed on public-private sector collaboration by the government of national unity and President Cyril Ramaphosa is a step in the right direction and must be carried forward in a variety of sectors, with the bioeconomy being one of the priorities.
Agriculture and food are crucial in the bioeconomy. Another key sector, directly linked to food, is health, where the many benefits of a developed, commercialised biosector are perhaps more obvious. The close relationship between many facets of the bioeconomy is well illustrated by the connections between food and health — improved nutritional availability for citizens flows from a stronger agricultural sector, along with healthier citizens more able to contribute, with lower costs for all.
The processing aspects of the downstream bioeconomy, in particular, offer multiple benefits. In this context, the tremendous success of South African commercial forestry — with numerous spin-offs affecting a variety of sectors — illustrates this point. Its success should be duplicated in other biosectors, particularly in agriculture. One example is a fruit tissue bank in the Cape where work is being done to improve fruit varieties.
South Africa has long had a strong relationship with the EU, its largest overall economic partner. It should leverage this strategic partnership to help strengthen its biosector; the EU is a global leader in many aspects of the bioeconomy. The European bioeconomy, with the European Green Deal at its centre, is actively being promoted by Brussels as a way to improve Europe’s global competitiveness. Co-operation and dialogue with European stakeholders should therefore help strengthen various aspects of the South African, and regional, bioeconomy.
South Africa can learn much from Europe, including better use of digital blockchain management of bioeconomic processes and their integration into important value chains, improving links between R&D and the marketplace to connect production with markets, and improving phytosanitary standards and quality control.
At the recent meeting of G20 agriculture ministers, John Steenhuisen expressed his support for the Initiative on Bioeconomy, launched during Brazil’s presidency of the G20 in 2023. He gave a commitment that South Africa will continue promoting this initiative during its G20 presidency in 2025. He also supported the Brazilian launch of a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, stressing that South Africa will invest in upscaling food production opportunities including agri-processing.
The Initiative on Bioeconomy focuses on three topics that are important for Africa: science, technology and innovation; the sustainable use of biodiversity; and the role of the bioeconomy in promoting sustainable development.
South Africa’s membership of the G20 gives Africa a key international leadership role in agriculture, food security and the bioeconomy that can help deliver a better tomorrow for all, and especially Africans.
The bioeconomy is an emerging sector in which South Africa can be a key continental, and global, leader, advocating for developing economies. As with clean energy, South African leadership in promoting the bioeconomy is important for its relations with Africa, a relationship that is emphasised by international relations & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola.
The new commitments by South Africa at the G20 agriculture ministers meeting will encourage spin-off opportunities in various sectors.
Targeted priority sectors and issues deserve special attention, enabled by close stakeholder partnerships. International opportunities such as those offered by the G20 context and the relationship with the EU should be capitalised on by South Africa for the benefit of Africa. South Africa is well positioned to play a facilitating role between national and a particularly wide variety of international stakeholders.
Dr John Maré is a former South African diplomat, now an adviser on international public affairs and diplomacy
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