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A vital priority for Africa today is to feed its
burgeoning population while sustaining agricultural production and safeguarding
the natural environment. It is anticipated that agricultural biotechnology will
suit the African farming community excellently in terms of acceptability and
affordability, and therefore make a major contribution towards the improvement
of food production and alleviation of poverty. A major hurdle towards food
production in Africa is the huge crop losses caused by pests and diseases. In
addition to the fact that control by means of pesticides is often harmful to
the environment, a great proportion of the African farmers, especially
subsistence farmers, do not have access to modern pesticides. Inherent
resistance provided via the seed, thus harnessing the plant's own defence
mechanisms, would be one of the simplest solutions to pest and disease control
in Africa. It boils down to the fact that plant biologists have to incorporate
the technology into the seed. Otherwise, other methods of harnessing the
plant's defence mechanisms have to be devised. Key events of the plant's
defence mechanisms are discussed in relation to resistance manipulation. They
include eliciting, with special reference to resistance (R) genes, and
signalling events, the hypersensitive response (HR) and systemic acquired
resistance (SAR). In this regard, recent insights and potential applications
are accentuated. It is concluded that plant biologists have a major task to continue
studies on plant defence mechanisms in an effort to provide fresh insights for
the design of new and effective disease control strategies. The importance of
such research in Africa, especially in the public sector, is stressed. Also,
it is emphasised that the technological outcomes of the research should be
protected in patents and made available to African farmers at affordable
prices. Another challenge is the application of modern biotechnology in Africa;
however, when packaged in the seed, the application of this cutting-edge concept
would become natural, even to the most traditional farmer.

South African Journal of Botany
2004, 70(1): 124–127