RIS Research and Information System for Developing Countries Asian Biotechnology and Development Review Vol. 11 No. 3, pp 1-10 © 2009, RIS. * Director, West African Biosciences Network (WABNet), NEPAD Biosciences Initiative, Senegal. Email: wabnet@nepadst.org; diran.makinde@nepadbiosafety.net ** Director, Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), South Africa, Email: LMumba@sanbio.co.za *** Coordinator, African Biosciences Initiative (ABI) and Acting Adviser, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Office of Science and Technology (OST), Pretoria, South Africa. Email: aggrey@nepadst.org Abstract: For the past three decades Africa has been a net importer of food!! In recognition of this situation and the significant role agriculture plays in Africa’s development, the continent, under the auspices of New Partnerships for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), developed a number of initiatives to enhance agricultural growth, alleviate poverty and improve quality of life. Some of these initiatives are in the African Union (AU)- NEPAD Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action in which the flagship programmes on indigenous crops are contained and the NEPAD Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Agricultural biotechnology alone will not solve the multitude of problems that farmers in Africa face; however, it has the potential to make crop breeding and crop management systems more efficient thereby generating improved crop varieties and higher yields. The challenges facing the continent on biotechnology and biosafety include lack of fund; loss of trained technical expertise; slow development of the biotechnology sector; inadequate Intellectual Property Rights infrastructure; government not taking a more active political role in promoting the technology and the issue of public acceptance brought about by activism. The lag in development of a governance capacity for biotechnology is seen in the current status of the development of national biosafety frameworks (NBFs) in Africa. Out of the 53 countries of the African Union, only 16 countries have laws, regulations, guidelines or policies related to modern biotechnology. Of these, only South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt have had experience in the assessment of applications for commercialization of any biotech crops. The combination of inadequate policies and legal frameworks require urgent attention that is led primarily by Africans if it is to achieve credibility in the eyes of African governments, African civil society and African people. Keywords: Africa, biotechnology, biosafety, NEPAD. Diran Makinde * Luke Mumba ** Aggrey Ambali *** Status of Biotechnology in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities