The DrumBeat: Africa Bioscience Trends

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25th June 2025

ISSUE NO.84

Welcome to issue 84 of The DrumBeat!

Welcome to the latest edition of the DrumBeat newsletter, featuring powerful stories of scientific innovations driving - or poised to drive - transformation across Africa.

This month's Video of the Month highlights Kenya's National Dialogue on Biotech Foods and Planetary Health, capturing powerful insights from government leaders, scientists and farmers. It underscores the transformative role of agricultural innovations in boosting food security and calls for increased public engagement on biotechnology.

Our Story of the Month explores an innovative small-scale sorghum biorefinery model piloted in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. This decentralized, farmer-led approach transforms sweet sorghum stalks - usually discarded - into high-value products such as syrup, crystal sugar, and bioethanol, creating new income streams and reducing waste.

We also share with you One Health media reporting guidelines recently unveiled in Kigali, Rwanda. These guidelines offer timely tools to strengthen storytelling at the intersection of human, animal and environmental health.

We continue our countdown to the Africa Biennial Biosciences Communication Symposium (ABBC2025) set for August 26-28, 2025 in Lusaka, Zambia. Held under the theme 'The War on Science: How Can We Overcome the Burden of Misinformation and Disinformation?', this landmark event will spark critical dialogue and inspire actionable solutions. Don't miss the chance to be part of this important forum - visit the ABBC website to register and secure your spot.

Don't miss out - dive into this vibrant issue of the DrumBeat and discover how science is reshaping Africa's future.

VIDEO OF THE MONTH

The Future of Life Science: Highlights from Kenya's National Dialogue on GMOs

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Dr. Fantahun Woldesenbet
Director, Industrial Biotechnology Directorate, Bio and Emerging Technology Institute, Ethiopia

STORY OF THE MONTH

How Sorghum Syrup Promises to Power Africa's Bio-Economy

In the heart of Ethiopia's drylands, a promising transformation is shaping up. It begins in humble village sheds where farmers are turning stalks of sorghum - a crop long seen as subsistence grain or livestock feed - into a thick, golden syrup that holds the promise of better nutrition and climate resilience. This is not just a story about food; it is about how science, tradition, and local ingenuity are blending to reshape livelihoods and spark new models of rural economic empowerment. At the center of this innovation is a small-scale, community-based sorghum biorefinery model ... Read more

From Our Newsroom

Farmers must be at the Heart of Agri-Innovations, Stakeholders insist

The African Conference on Agricultural Technology (ACAT) 2025 recently concluded with a resounding call to place farmers at the heart of innovation. Held in Kigali, Rwanda, under the theme 'NextGen Ag-Tech Solutions for Africa's Farmers,' the four-day event brought together over 1,000 stakeholders. Read more

'Let us trust our scientists for local solutions,' stakeholders told during national dialogue on GMOs

Hesitance to adopt key biotechnologies could compromise Kenya's food security and leave it paces behind other countries that long took that leap, Principal Secretary for Science, Research, and Innovation Prof. Shaukat Abdulrazak has revealed. But the government, in a clear display of support for agricultural biotechnology, lifted the longstanding ban on GMOs in 2022. Read more

Building Trust in GMOs: Farmers Lead the Conversation at Kenya's Biosafety Conference

The 13th Annual Biosafety Conference, organized by Kenya's National Biosafety Authority (NBA), was held in Naivasha from June 10 - 12. The NBA, responsible for overseeing GMO activities in Kenya, deserves recognition for sustaining this important forum, now in its 13th year. Since the country adopted its biotechnology policy in 2006 and enacted GMO legislation in 2009, the journey has been complex but significant. Read more

Nextgen Ag-Tech Solutions for Africa's Farmers Hold Promise

In Kigali's moderate heat, over 1,000 delegates attending the African Conference of Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) agreed, among other things, that farmers need to be at the centre of decision-making on crucial agricultural technologies if Africa is to be truly food secure. ACAT 2025, happening under the theme 'NextGen Ag-Tech Solutions for Africa's Farmers' also discussed the potential of Africa's youth in agriculture. Read more

Experts: Media Key to Promoting Planetary Health, Linking Science and Society Effectively

The media's role at the intersection of science and society cannot be overemphasized, and deliberate efforts from all interested quarters are necessary to bolster its operations so it remains a prominent and relevant player, experts agreed during the launch of the One Health Communication Guidelines for Rwanda. Read more