Wafaa M Rashed, Chair and Founder of Pan-African PGS Education and Research Initiative, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Seeds are infrastructure — and policy must catch up
We are pleased to highlight a compelling policy-oriented blog authored by Dr. Djouher GAAD, Biotechnology Research Center (C.R.Bt), Algeria
In her article, “Seeds are infrastructure: why Algeria should fund a national durum wheat resilience program,” Dr. GAAD makes a strong, evidence-based case for treating genetics and genomics as national infrastructure, essential for climate resilience and food security.
Importantly, this is not only a scientific contribution — it is policy advocacy in action.
At a time when climate shocks, food imports, and budget pressures are converging, the article goes beyond science to address what truly matters: policy choices.
The message is clear:
Agricultural R&D is not a “nice to have” — it is a strategic investment
Genomic resources (landraces, wild relatives, pre-breeding data) are national assets
The real bottleneck is not science, but the policy and delivery systems that should translate genetic innovation into farmers’ fields
Long-term, protected funding and institutional accountability are essential for resilience
This is exactly the kind of science-informed policy dialogue we need more of — where researchers speak the language of decision-makers, budgets, and national priorities.
Her work exemplifies how capacity building can translate into real-world policy-relevant solutions.
We encourage policymakers, parliamentarians, funders, and agricultural leaders to read, listen, and engage with these solutions — and to open space for discussion.
Climate resilience will not be achieved through imports alone, but through strategic genomics-backed policies that invest in local capacity and long-term impact.
Let’s move from publications to policy, and from ideas to implementation.
Read the blog.”
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