Simpler application processes are being considered for new seed technologies within the existing legal framework, according to the Department of Agriculture.
By Francois Williams, senior journalist at African Farming and Landbouweekblad
Options are being explored to allow the approval of gene-edited seed to follow a simpler and faster process, Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen said at the opening of the annual congress of the African Seed Trade Association in Cape Town on 23 March.
There are ongoing discussions on how to assess gene-edited products – those that do not involve the introduction of foreign DNA – while still maintaining appropriate safeguards and avoiding unnecessary delays to innovation. The aim is to ensure that farmers can benefit from improved crop varieties as soon as possible.
This follows concerns in the agricultural sector that government still intends to regulate new plant-breeding methods under the highly complex Genetically Modified Organisms Act (Act 15 of 1997).
An official in the Department of Agriculture assured African Farming that they are working on ways to simplify the approval application process according to levels of risk. The speed at which an application is processed will depend on the data required to assess each specific application.
In his address at the AFSTA congress, Steenhuisen said the Executive Council established under the GMO Act has already begun updating the risk-assessment framework used by government to evaluate whether new genetically modified or gene-edited crops are safe before they can be used commercially.
The idea is to introduce a tiered system that aligns regulatory requirements with the level of risk.
Discussions already began last year on how the process for certain lower-risk applications could be simplified. The outcome of these discussions will be considered by the Executive Council later this month, Steenhuisen said.
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South Africa is not alone on this path. Other African countries such as Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria are closely monitoring developments in the science around new breeding techniques, including gene editing, according to Steenhuisen. Regulatory approaches are being adapted to recognise that different technologies carry different levels of risk, and that this should be reflected in oversight mechanisms.
Africa cannot afford to fall behind in adopting approaches that improve competitiveness and food security, he emphasised.
South Africa’s seed industry was worth more than R13,1 billion in 2024, with field crops accounting for about R8,6 billion of this total. Hybrid maize alone represented more than R6,4 billion.
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