NewzNAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 25 — East Africa must move beyond bioeconomy strategies and research projects to build profitable industries that create jobs and retain more value from the region’s biological resources, experts have said. The call came at the Africa Bioeconomy Workshop in Nairobi, where policymakers, scientists, investors and entrepreneurs urged governments to link agricultural production, research and innovation to markets. Niall O’Connor, Centre Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Africa Centre, said the region had the resources, research capacity and entrepreneurial talent needed to build a competitive bio-based economy but was still losing value by exporting raw materials.
“The bioeconomy in Eastern Africa, it’s no longer a concept confined to research circles,” O’Connor said. “A lot of work over the years has been done on research, but now it’s actually happening across the continent.” The 2026 State of the Bioeconomy in Eastern Africa report identifies agricultural residues and organic waste as potential feedstock for industries producing biofuels, organic fertilisers, biodegradable packaging, natural fibres, renewable oils, industrial enzymes and bio-based construction materials. “We must move from exporting raw biological resources to retaining greater value at home through local processing and manufacturing,” O’Connor said.
Dr Abdou Tenkouano, Director General of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), said agriculture, which contributes between 23 and 35 percent of GDP in many sub-Saharan African countries, offered a major opportunity to build industries around biomass. “At its core, the bioeconomy uses scientific knowledge and innovation to transform biological resources into economic and social benefits in a sustainable way,” he said. Tenkouano urged governments to strengthen university-industry partnerships and support innovation and entrepreneurship in agro-processing and bioprocessing.
“We should promote innovation and entrepreneurship in value addition and agro and bioprocessing to create jobs for young people and incomes for families, especially through university-industry partnerships,” he said. Value addition The push for commercialisation is also being linked to food security, with African policymakers calling for greater investment in staple crops while building industries around them. NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 25— Kenya has launched a 10-year strategy to turn its biological resources, scientific research and innovation capacity into new industries, investments and jobs in push to shift from exporting raw materials towards building a knowledge-driven economy.
Prime Cabinet Secretary(PCS) Musalia Mudavadi said the Kenya National Bioeconomy Strategy 2026–2036 would help the country move beyond producing and exporting primary biological resources by increasing domestic value addition and commercialising scientific innovations. The strategy, launched in Nairobi on Tuesday, places the bioeconomy at the centre of Kenya’s broader economic transformation agenda, linking agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, biotechnology and research. Mudavadi said the country could no longer afford to treat its biological resources simply as commodities for extraction and export.
“Our mission must be to increase domestic value addition, develop competitive bio-based products and industries, commercialize innovations and support enterprises that are capable of competing successfully in regional and global markets,” he said. The government is betting on the strategy to help tackle some of the country’s most persistent economic challenges, including youth unemployment, exposure to external trade shocks, climate change and low levels of value addition in key sectors. Mudavadi said Kenya’s advantage lay not only in the biological resources it possesses, but in its ability to apply science, technology and innovation to create higher-value products and businesses.
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