The State of the Bioeconomy in Eastern Africa: 2024

The 2024 report on “The State of the Bioeconomy in Eastern Africa“, prepared by the Stockholm Environment Institute, the East African Science and Technology Commission (EASTECO), and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), and part of the BioInnovate Africa Programme, expands on the groundwork laid in the first report released in 2022. The original report offered a general overview of the bioeconomy in the region while the 2024 edition places a particular emphasis on food security and sustainable agriculture.

The advancement of a bioeconomy in the region offers a transformative chance to enhance rural livelihoods by driving sustainable economic growth, boosting food security, and fostering environmental stewardship. It has immense potential to positively impact rural communities throughout the region, connecting smallholder farmers to new types of value chains and new market opportunities.

This report focuses on East Africa because the region presents a promising avenue for sustainable biobased economic growth and development because of its abundant natural resources. Developing a bioeconomy supports the region’s goals for industrialization and diversification, offering new growth opportunities and advancing the Eastern African Countries (EAC) Vision 2050.

What is a bioeconomy?

In the last 20 years, the global recognition of the sustainable and circular bioeconomy’s role in transforming various sectors of the economy has significantly increased.

The International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy defines a bioeconomy as “a knowledge-based production and utilization of biological resources, biological processes and principles to sustainably provide goods and services across all economic sectors” (International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy, 2023).

The bioeconomy offers key components for strategies aimed at enhancing the value of bioresources, such as biowaste, while also addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, and combating the broader issue of biodiversity loss.

The global bioeconomy is fueled by multiple factors highlighting the increasing awareness of biological resources’ crucial role in promoting sustainable development and economic growth. Some of the key drivers include resource scarcity and sustainability concerns, optimising use of biomass, rural development, economic diversification and building value around local bioresources, climate change mitigation and adaptation and circular economy principles.

How can Eastern African Countries benefit from the bioeconomy?

Bioeconomy growth is relevant for EAC to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Developing a modern bioeconomy in Eastern Africa holds great potential to contribute to addressing various socio-economic challenges and the achievement of key development goals and targets for the region. In that sense, bioeconomy offers multiple benefits, including sustainable industrialisation, job creation, green growth, improvement of food and nutrition security, linking farmers and bioentrepreneurs, and protecting the environment.

The bioeconomy holds significant potential to contribute to sustainable development and economic growth in Africa by leveraging the continent’s abundant biological resources and addressing various socio-economic challenges. However, East African countries have been limited in their ability to apply technologies and know-how that could modernise agricultural production, bioprocessing and value addition. The lack of bioprocessing and value addition to primary produce and biowaste makes it difficult for the region to use its bioresources for economic growth.

The countries in the region have abundant natural resources that could produce value-added products for various sectors, such as food, health or energy. Since the economies of EAC mainly rely on agriculture-related activities, it is relevant to leverage the bioeconomy in this sector by diversifying and adding value through processing.

Harnessing biomass and residues can create innovative food, feed products, biofuels, bio-based materials, and biopharmaceuticals, opening up new markets for farmers and making them more resilient to market fluctuations. In Kenya, the Nyongara Biogas Plant is a great example. The Plant converts organic waste into biogas, providing a sustainable energy source and increases the resilience of the in and biofertilizers for the local community, while also effectively managing waste to reduce environmental pollution. Another relevant initiative in the region is the production and use of agrobiologicals to reduce crop and livestock pests and diseases, decrease dependence on synthetic chemicals, boost smallholder productivity, promote sustainable food systems, and contribute to the broader economy.

Current challenges and the way forward

As the bioeconomy principle is gaining interest, it is crucial to monitor its development, identify gaps and enhance  implementation. Governments are increasingly interested in establishing bioeconomy monitoring systems to track progress, from biomass extraction to consumption and recycling while assessing their impact on sustainability and development. Nevertheless, it is currently difficult to determine and collect the appropriate data to enable the monitoring of the bioeconomy.

To foster the advancement of the bioeconomy in Eastern Africa, it is crucial to tackle the existing gaps, challenges, and areas requiring attention. Some of the most pressing challenges include:

• Lack of access to finance and venture capital
• Limitation in infrastructure
• Lack of technology and facilities for processing, and value addition
• Lack of skilled workforce
• Low agricultural productivity
• Inadequate and in many cases stifling policy and regulatory frameworks

The following actions are cornerstones to address the above challenges and mainstream the bioeconomy in EAC:

• Continued Infrastructure development
• Capacity building in all central areas of the bioeconomy
• Creating an enabling policy and business environment
• Creating funding mechanisms and establishing funding priorities
• Promotion of Research and Innovation
• Promoting technology and business incubations

Additionally, it is essential to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach involving the government, private sector, research institutions, civil society organizations and development partners. Although traditional and Indigenous food resources are very important for food systems in EAC, their food resources are underutilised, making it important to involve these groups in the dialogue. Enhancing value of indigenous crops in Eastern Africa requires a multi-faceted approach that spans the entire value chain, from production and post-harvest management to processing, creating value-added products, marketing, and educating consumers.

Lastly, successful development will rely on collaboration among stakeholders and a unified effort toward a common vision of a thriving bioeconomy.

Written by David Mingasson, SIANI Reporter