HavAfric co-founder Joseph Opoku Gakpo has won second runner-up position in the North Carolina State University / BASF NextGen Graduate Student Innovation Session. The competition saw nine finalists, who are all graduate students in the university’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, pitch their research works and ideas for commercialization to an audience at the BASF North America headquarters in the Research Triangle Park.
Gakpo told the audience he spent the summer of 2022 interviewing farmers in Ghana on what can be done to facilitate trust between them and scientists introducing them to biotechnology crops, as part of his research work with Agricultural and Human Sciences professor Dr. Katherine McKee. In those conversations, the farmers told him they needed drought-tolerant, disease-resistant, and adaptable corn, tomato, cocoa, and plantain. They wanted scientists to develop these improved crops for them.
“That got me asking myself if there is anything I can do to help the farmers and that inspired me to set up HavAfric,” he said. Dr. Samuel Acheampong who is Ghana’s first scientist to use gene editing technology in his work and an alumnus of NC State University, is the other co-founder of the start-up.
Gakpo said HavAfric is a mission-driven company that will work to eradicate hunger, malnutrition, and food waste across Africa through the development and supply of climate-smart and resilient seeds produced using CRISPR gene/genome editing technology. HavAfric will utilize CRISPR gene editing technology to develop seeds with desired traits, such as drought resistance, pest and disease resistance, extended shelf life, higher yield, and improved nutritional content. “Guided by the Responsible Innovation Framework, we are engaging farmers, consumers, and other stakeholders to ensure the varieties and traits we offer are what they and consumers want and address their needs,” he said.
“Thumbs up to our scientists who have been working at various National Research Organizations across Africa to deploy GMO seeds over the last few decades. Thanks to the CRISPR revolution, the time has come for start-ups to join the efforts with gene/genome editing, and HavAfric is ready to lead the scientific community in that direction,” Gakpo added.
You can read more about HavAfric here; https://havafric.com/
By Communications Department, HavAfric