Professor Curtis R. Youngs,
Animal Science Department, Iowa State University, USA
I remember vividly my first trip to the African continent in June of 2013. It was a long journey, but I was eager to experience the splendors of Africa that I had seen previously only through television documentaries. The purpose of my trip was to meet with my research collaborator Dr. Tamrat Degefa who several months earlier had received specialized training in bovine embryo transfer at Iowa State University (ISU). I was met upon my arrival in Addis Ababa by my colleague (employed by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, and we drove to Bishoftu where I would stay for several days. Little did I know how that African experience would change my life!
Since that June 2013 trip I have been fortunate to make several more visits to Ethiopia, as well as to seven additional African countries. Although I have seen only a small portion of the vast African continent, two things impressed me during my visits: 1) the warm and gracious hospitality that I received, and 2) the incredible opportunity for increased food production.
Fast forward to 2022. One of my ISU colleagues, Dr. Dianah Ngonyama (from Zimbabwe), told me about two important things in Africa that were new to me – ISAAA AfriCenter (an organization on which she served as a board member) and the ABBC symposium (African Biennial Biosciences Communication). The ABBC symposium is an African-led, Africa-based platform enabling the exchange of experiences, knowledge, and solutions to advance effective communication on bio-innovations in and globally.
Dr. Ngonyama encouraged me to attend ABBC 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya; its theme was “Evolution of Genetic Improvement Tools in Agriculture: Is Communication Matching Up?” (see report here: https://africenter.isaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Report-ABBC2023.pdf). This theme aligned closely with my interests in livestock development work, and thankfully I was able to attend. There were 180 delegates representing 23 countries from five continents. This diverse global representation enabled an incredibly valuable exchange of ideas and experiences about modern agricultural biotechnologies and integration of new breeding tools for enhanced food production. Discussions included opportunities and challenges associated with the patchwork of regulatory policies for new breeding tools, or lack thereof, across Africa. There was consensus that scientists need to enhance their communication to better explain to the general public how new breeding tools can contribute to advancing sustainable food systems and planetary health. This public discourse is vitally important in view of Agenda 2063 – the African Union’s goal for transformed agriculture (https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview).
The ABBC2025 symposium was held in Lusaka, Zambia in late August 2025, and I had the privilege of serving as a member of the organizing committee and as a session moderator for this event which had as its theme “The War on Science: How Can We Overcome the Burden of Misinformation and Disinformation?”. There were 150 delegates representing 21 countries from across the world. They were drawn from crops and livestock research, environment and ecosystem health, public health, One Health, communication, media, information technology, academia, policy and legislation, regional economic blocs, the private sector and grassroots communities.
This symposium theme sparked my interest because it aligned closely with the mission and vision of a US-based organization founded in 1972 on which I serve on the board of representative: the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST; https://cast-science.org/about/).
Similar to ABBC2023, the diverse array of global participants facilitated a vigorous discussion and powerful interchange of ideas and experiences about the drivers of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation pertaining to scientific innovations and their associated adverse impacts on delaying/preventing the adoption of technologies that can help feed the world.
There was important dialogue surrounding the substantial opportunity costs associated with underutilization, or lack of utilization, of innovative technologies associated with One Health (integration of animal health, human health, and environmental health) programs important for the production of animal-source foods. The dearth of science communicators was acknowledged, as was the need for scientists to partner with science communication specialists to become proactive in educating the public – instead of being reactive to misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation and fighting an uphill battle of changing public opinions formed on the basis of erroneous information.
An extremely important outcome of this 6th edition of ABBC, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of ABBC, was the drafting and adoption of the “ABBC 2025 Lusaka Declaration and Call to Action”. (See in the publications section of this DrumBeat Issue)
As I reflect on my participation in ABBC 2023 and ABBC 2025, it is clear to me that ABBC plays a crucial, yet highly undervalued, role in shaping the adoption of scientific discoveries throughout Africa. It is only through effective communication that the best technologies will diffuse and gain acceptance across a continent that cannot afford to lag behind in adoption. Only when people are well aware of the existence and qualities of new scientific innovations can they make informed decisions, and move on with adoption out of appreciation of the need and urgency of it, and without feeling coerced.
The founders of ABBC are commended for having the vision to launch this Africa-based platform, and I am grateful to all past conference organizing committee members and conference participants for their leadership and contributions to this important ongoing discussion. Feeding the estimated 10.6 billion people who will be on planet earth in 2050 is a massive challenge. Scientific innovations can and must play a pivotal role in feeding humankind in a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable manner.
I was happy to sign a memorandum of understanding, with ISAAA AfriCenter’s Director Dr Margaret Karembu, to advance agricultural innovation in Africa, promoting collaboration in teaching, research and outreach. ABBC offers a platform on which routes towards implementation of such partnerships are formulated, for Africa and for the world.