At times, Anna Karenina, a 1878 classic novel by Leo Tolstoy, a renowned Russian author and one of the greatest novelists of all time, revolves around the theme: “the joy of the labour is in the bread that it brings.” Despite sounding quite antiquated, the theme still holds in the modern world, and it will remain so for centuries yet to come. To add to this, most of the time (whether we are aware of it or not), we invest in our work because we expect some sort of return in either the near or distant future.
If we naturally expect returns from what we do, have you ever wondered what would happen if the so-called bread became insufficient? Wouldn’t the work feel much like slavery? Would there be any essence of work? To add to this, did you know that in some parts of the world, no matter the efforts you invest in your dear work, you and your loved ones possibly still go to sleep with a hungry stomach?
The following realistic fiction story epitomizes the day-to-day living conditions of a large proportion of the population of Africa’s developing countries.
Jerome is a father of three children. His firstborn—a beautiful daughter—is pursuing her secondary studies at a local high school, and his twin sons are sixth graders. Jerome is a construction worker, and his wife—Valerie—runs a small tailoring shop. Unlike his wife, Jerome is among the few people in his community who hold a university degree. Each month, Jerome and Valerie jointly earn 450,000 Rwandan Francs (Rwf), quite a fortune that few of their neighbours earn. Their expenses, however, leave them empty-handed.
First and foremost, Jerome completed his university studies through a government loan, which he repays on a monthly basis with interest. He rents an apartment for the family, and his three children need school fees and scholastic materials. Water, electricity, and health insurance also weigh heavily on their shoulders. Equally challenging, food—the unspoken expense—accounts for more than 210,000 Rwf, a chunk slightly below 50% of their monthly income. In the early beginnings of each academic trimester, when school fees are due, the family has to choose between food and school—an audacious choice. They begin a new month with zero savings. They have worked diligently but have earned a null net income for years. Valerie’s mind brims with ideas of how to expand her tailoring shop, but unfortunately, the local commercial banks won’t give them a loan. They have no viable collateral: no savings, no real estate. Their fate is pretty much sealed. Their goal is simply to survive, and they will remain poor.
The above analogy pinpoints the painful reality: agricultural products cost an arm and a leg for a salaried worker in developing countries. The fact that the prices on the market go up annually while the workers’ salaries remain constant is equally bitter. It is evident that the majority of the population in developing countries is in an alarming situation, and what’s even worse, economically, day by day, the agricultural production sector becomes tighter as fertile land grows thinner, climate change kicks in, and population booms. So, what is the solution? Will Africa’s relentless workers remain poor?
With science, the answer is closer than ever: cellular agriculture.
What is cellular agriculture, and how is it going to turn tables?
Figure: Cellular Agriculture
Cellular agriculture, a term first coined by Isha Datar in 2015, refers to the production of agricultural products through controlled and sustainable processes, utilizing biotechnology as a reliable alternative to traditional farming practices that heavily rely on whole organisms—plants and animals. This relatively recent technology entails a smorgasbord of advanced techniques that aid in the in vitro (outside of the living organism) development of cells. Be it Wilhelm Roux’s early 1880 seminal experiments or a 2024 event in which Senara GmbH, a company in Europe, presented the first-ever picture of cell-cultivated milk, the vision of the cellular agriculture founding fathers has not changed—decoupling food products from animal and plant farming. The following figure shows the approximate timeline for the development of cellular agriculture.
Figure 1: Development of Cellular Agriculture
Over the ensuing years, through the relentless pioneering work of researchers, two mechanisms of cellular agriculture have been identified, namely cell-based and acellular agriculture. Although both approaches utilize cell culture and molecular engineering at excitingly similar levels, they differ fundamentally in their processes and final products, and scientists adopt a technique in accordance with the final products they anticipate collecting. Unlike cell-based (cellular) agriculture that produces products composed of living cells or tissues such as meat and fish, the acellular technique—also known as precision fermentation—yields biomolecules such as enzymes, hormones, fats, or proteins.
These mechanisms give cellular agriculture the undeniable potential to produce almost all food nutrients needed by the human body. Due to its broad potential and applicability, cellular agriculture has also become the backbone of manufacturing processes in pharmaceutical factories, specifically in toxicology testing, vaccine development, regenerative medicine and cell therapy, cancer research, genetic and molecular studies, among other areas.
Scientific and Technical Foundations of Cellular Agriculture
Using a plant tissue as an example, cell culture processes involve a multitude of steps. Special attention is paid to the following key points before starting:
- The plant species (from which a sample, a specimen obtained from a living organism, must be collected) should be selected, and the desired plant substance should be available in it in a sufficient concentration.
- The particular part of the plant in which the substance accumulates should be known, and the type of cell culture to be conducted should have been decided upon.
- Finally, the tissue explant—a mother piece of tissue used to initiate tissue culture—should have been chosen.
After the above crucial preliminary steps, the process progresses in the following way:
Cellular agriculture typically begins by isolating explants from the plant and fragmenting—cutting—it into smaller pieces, which are later referred to as tissue culture lines. At this stage, sterility is encouraged to prevent any potential contamination, and it is ensured by using sterile tweezers and scalpels, a couple of washing steps, and application of chemical sterilization by use of hypochlorite solution.
Subsequently, the tissue culture lines are inoculated and mass propagated—grown in large numbers—in culture media, nutrient-rich solutions for cell growth, which can be either solid (petri dishes) or liquid (shaking flasks). A steady room temperature should be maintained for optimal cell growth.
Figure 2: Overview of Cellular Agriculture Process
Then researchers discern the cell lines that exhibited the desired traits, such as flavors or nutrients, to the greatest extent. They are isolated, some stored for future use, and others are grown in small flasks (liquid culture media) which should be shaken regularly to ensure proper and equal distribution of air and nutrients. At this stage, scientists scrupulously monitor the composition of the culture media, temperature, pH level, light intensity, and light and dark cycles all aimed at creating suitable growth conditions. Finally, elicitors, stimulating chemical substances, are added to boost the production of the desired chemical compounds by the cultured tissues.
Figure 3: A bioreactor
Last but not least, ensuring perfect conditions for cell growth, the procedure is scaled up from small flasks, measuring a few ounces, to bioreactors—large tanks measuring thousands of ounces that have temperature, air, and nutrients controlled. This allows mass production of the desired compound, e.g. a nutrient, which is later harvested and purified, making it ready for use. Throughout the entirety of the process, sterility is kept with utmost precision to prevent potential contamination by microorganisms and ensure sustainability.
Reasons why cellular agriculture is turning tables worldwide
Although cellular agriculture factories for food production are still limited, a handful of pioneering companies in various countries have started producing certified food products for human consumption. Companies like 108Labs in North Carolina, Alep farms in Israel, and Clear Meat in India, among others, are already producing high-quality, nutritious food products.
The UN Global Environmental Facility, cited in The History of Cellular Agriculture (and future of food, too) published on Trellis asserts that producing 1000 kg of cultured meat requires approximately 99 per cent less land, about 88 per cent less water, 78 to 96 per cent less greenhouse gas emissions, and roughly 25 per cent less energy compared to conventional farming processes. Statistics alone underscore the massive potential that cellular agriculture has ready for exploitation.
Africa-wise, cellular agriculture remains an underexplored realm despite the evident need to break new ground in the continent’s agricultural production sector. This is evidenced by the fact that over 64 registered cellular agriculture companies operate in the world, but none operate in Africa.
Figure 4: Distribution of cellular agriculture companies worldwide
Considering the fact that Africa has been the world’s epicentre of population growth since the 1960s, a radical, pragmatic solution is needed. In 1960, Africa’s population was 283 million, and in 2024 it skyrocketed to 1.5 billion. The growth rate is so high that by 2050, the population is predicted to reach 2.5 billion. Living conditions are currently tough; how much tougher will they be with an additional billion people in 2050? This means additional pollution and deforestation, extra demand for food, and swamp reclamation for agriculture. Cellular agriculture presents itself as the most potent solution to saving land, enhancing crop and animal production at an affordable price, and minimizing environmental pollution. Most importantly, we cannot overlook how cellular agriculture will enhance harvest by evading numerous pest and parasite species that plague the planet.
Challenges and Recommendations
Despite the evident strides made in the development of cellular agriculture and its potential to improve animal welfare and product shelf life, there are concerns about whether people will accept eating biocultured foods. Its critics call it “fake food”, and so efforts to sensitize the mass population about its ethics and its other advantages are needed.
Not only is cellular agriculture ethically challenging, but it is also capital-intensive. Scaling up from the laboratory level to industrial production would be too expensive for many African investors to afford. African governments should therefore devise plans to support them.
Equally important, the African agricultural production sector is largely labour-intensive. It relies on a lot of unskilled manual labour. An instant up-levelling of the sector would immediately cause them to lose their jobs. It thus requires African governments to have an eclectic plan of upgrading agriculture to meet future food requirements, yet not causing direct harm to the small holder farmers.
In the future, remarkable advances in synthetic biology are expected to cause a boom in cellular agriculture, making it efficient and affordable. For instance, in 2013, Mark Post, a Maastricht University researcher, showed the world the first-ever laboratory-grown meat burger that cost $325,000. A few years later, Future Meat Technologies, now known as Believer Meats, was able to produce the same meat burger for just $325. This underscores the fast pace at which cellular agriculture is progressing. It would not be surprising that in just two decades, laboratory-grown food products will be able to outcompete conventional ones. In a nutshell, the future of cellular agriculture is exciting and mesmerizing. If embraced, it will help pave a path towards Africa’s sustainable food security.
BIZUMUREMYI Emmanuel [Opinion]
