harnessing biotechnology in agriculture -a regional ... · some successes -gm gm crops are under...
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Harnessing Biotechnology in Agriculture -A Regional Perspective
Jawahir L. Karihaloo
Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Institutions (APAARI)
Diversity of Asia-Pacific region
� 38 developing countries
� Southeast Asia
� South and Southwest Asia
� Central Asia
� East Asia
� Pacific Islands
Diverse economies and
experiences in adoption of
biotechnology in agriculture
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2
Agriculture is important to A-P region
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Perc
en
t
Asia-Pacif ic
developing
countries
All Asia-
Pacifc
Rest of
w orld
World
Regions
Agricultural population
AP region contributes substantially to world agricultural production
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Per
cen
t
Cer
eals
Tuber
s & ro
ot cro
ps
Pulse
s
Veget
able
oils
Fruits
Veget
able
Milk
Mea
t
Inla
nd c
aptu
re fish
Commodity
3
3
Source: FAO, 2009
More than 60% of hungry are in Asia and Pacific
42
(+13.5%) 15
(+15.4%)53
(12.8%)
265
(+11.8%)
642
(+10.5%)
Asia and the Pacific
Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America and the
Caribbean
Near East and North
Africa
Developed Countries
For the first time > 1 billion
people are undernourished
Undernourishment on the Rise throughout the World and
Highest in Asia-Pacific
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Asia and the Pacific Latin America and the
Caribbean
Near East and North
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
milli
on
s
1990-92 1995-97 2000-02 2004-06 2008 2009
4
4
Source: ASTI, 2008
Number of poor rose and highest in
South Asia
0
100
200
300
400
500
Sub-Saharan
Africa
South Asia East Asia &
Pacif ic
Middle East &
North Africa
Europe &
Central Asia
Latin America
& Caribbean
Mil
lio
ns
of
pe
op
le b
elo
w
$1
-a-d
ay
po
ve
rty
lin
e
1993
2002
Increased Productivity Increased Productivity
Higher Income Higher Income
Resiliense and SustainabilityResiliense and Sustainability
Impact of Climate Change Impact of Climate Change
ChallengesChallenges
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Role of Biotechnology Role of Biotechnology Role of Biotechnology Role of Biotechnology
� Genetic improvement (crop and animal )
� Genetic resources characterization and conservation
� Rapid multiplication of organisms, organs, cells under controlled conditions
� Less use of pesticides
� Health care products / value addition
Main Areas of Application in Animals & Main Areas of Application in Animals & Main Areas of Application in Animals & Main Areas of Application in Animals & Animal ProductsAnimal ProductsAnimal ProductsAnimal Products
o Genetics, breeding and conservationGenetics, breeding and conservationGenetics, breeding and conservationGenetics, breeding and conservationo ReproductionReproductionReproductionReproductiono Nutrition & feedsNutrition & feedsNutrition & feedsNutrition & feedso Disease diagnosis, epidemiology & vaccinesDisease diagnosis, epidemiology & vaccinesDisease diagnosis, epidemiology & vaccinesDisease diagnosis, epidemiology & vaccineso Product technologiesProduct technologiesProduct technologiesProduct technologieso Emerging technologies (applications in many areas):Emerging technologies (applications in many areas):Emerging technologies (applications in many areas):Emerging technologies (applications in many areas):
o Stem cell technologiesStem cell technologiesStem cell technologiesStem cell technologieso MetagenomicsMetagenomicsMetagenomicsMetagenomicso BiotherapeuticsBiotherapeuticsBiotherapeuticsBiotherapeuticso NanotechnologiesNanotechnologiesNanotechnologiesNanotechnologies
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Adoption of biotechnology: Status
� 17 countries have one or more ministries responsible for biotechnology research in agriculture
� 11 have ongoing programs on application of biotechnology in agriculture.
� Twenty-one countries are party to or have ratified the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety of the CBD.
� More than 50 crops and forestry trees are being targeted for genetic modification for diverse traits, most prominent among which are resistance to diseases and pests, and abiotic stress tolerance
Some successes - Micropropagation
� Farmers in Vietnam have been growing potato from tissue culture plantlets due to which potato yields are estimated to have doubled from 10 to 20 tonnes per hectare.
� In China, development of disease-free mother plants of sweet potato led to at least 30 percent yield increase.
� In India, integration of micropropagation, disease detection and elimination, and conventional propagation in potato and sugarcane has led to substantial improvements in seedling quality and health and economic returns
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Banana micropropagation
Micropropagation for Quality Seed Micropropagation for Quality Seed
Production in SugarcaneProduction in Sugarcane
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Comparative performance of conventional and micropropagation based seed production in sugarcane
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Some successes - GM
� GM crops are under commercial cultivation in China, India and the
Philippines.
� In addition, China, Korea, the Philippines, Japan and Thailand have
approved some GM crops for food and livestock feed.
� In India the area under Bt cotton reached 7.6 million hectares in
2008-09, which constitutes nearly 81% of the total cotton area of the
country.
� The Indian cotton production reached 4.9 million tonnes in 2008-09,
from 2.3 million tonnes in 2002-03 when the first Bt hybrids were
introduced.
GM Technology- Bt Cotton in
India
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Area Covered Under Bt Cotton in India
Area covered during 2010 : 8.4 m ha17
Adoption of Bt cotton in India
7.67 7.638.78 8.68 9.14 9.44 9.37 9.6
0.029 0.086 0.0531.25
3.8
6.27.6
8.4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2002-
03
2003-
04
2004-
05
2005-
06
2006-
07
2007-
08
2008-
09
2009-
10
Year
Mil
lio
n h
ecta
res
total (mha)
Bt (mha)
In the pipeline -Golden rice
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10
Some successes - MAS
� Marker aided selection has been used to develop a downy mildew resistant pearl millet hybrid ‘HHB 67-Improved’.
� Bacterial blight resistant varieties of rice have been developed in China and India.
� In the Philippines, rice variety IR64-Sub1 developed through marker aided selection from the popular IR64 has tolerance to submergence.
Some successes – Other crop improvement technologies
� 1,336 food crop varieties having been developed through mutation in Asia.
� In Vietnam, three new mutant rice varieties having tolerance to salinity and good food quality have been released to farmers due to which farmers’ incomes have increased by US $350 million per year.
� Doubled haploid and interspecific hybrid rice varieties are being grown in China and Vietnam
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Some successes – Genetic resources conservation
� Biotechnological tools are being used for conservation, characterization, evaluation and enhancement of crop and forestry genetic resources.
� Genebanks and other institutions in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines apply in vitro and cryopreservation techniques for ex situ conservation of vegetatively propagated and recalcitrant species.
� In China, two in vitro banks have 1,787 collections while in India, seven in vitro and cryopreservation facilities hold 7,922 and 1,904 accessions, respectively.
Jatropha seedlings raised from
cryostored seedsJatropha plants
established in potIn vitro plantlets
raised from cryostored
embryonic axes
Cryopreservation for conservation
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DNA markers could discriminate all the 35 released varieties of
cashew with the probability of
unrelated accessions having identical
fingerprints being 2.8x10-11
DNA Fingerprinting for IPR protection
DNA Banks
� DNA Bank is a particular type of genebankthat preserves and distributes the DNA samples and provides associated information
� Extracted DNA in several forms is available in many laboratories. This is an important resource for several applications:
�Biodiversity characterization
�Studying genetic and evolutionary relationships
�Functional analysis of genes
�Comparative genomics
�Plant breeding
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DNA Banks
� The DNA bank is responsible for the preparation of DNA and related molecular information
� DNA bank managers supply DNA fragments/clones and information
� The DNA bank multiplies and stores DNA. It also manages the molecular information provided by users
Issues
� Policy support
� Investments
� Technology appropriateness
� IP and ownership
� Capacity – technology, technology adaptation and adoption, regulatory & IP issues, communication
� Public awareness and participation in decision making
� Regulatory management
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Issues
� No specific policy on biotechnology for agriculture in several countries
� Declining per captia investment in agricultural R&D in several countries
� Limited local capacity in R&D, technology transfer, IP and regulatory issues
� Biosafety regulatory systems still to be established and become functional
� Inconsistency in regulatory decision making� Weak linkages between technology developers and adopters� Limited local private sector participation in basic technology
development� Limited public private participation� Lack of public awareness and communication efforts to enable
informed public participation in decision making
Public spending on agricultural R&D (1981-2000)
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15
Public and private sector expenditure on agricultural research c. 2000
Economics of production:Integrating micropropagation with conventional seed production system is the key to reducing cost of seed
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• Gene ownership
- Cry1F
- PAT marker gene
• Enabling technologies
- Microprojectilebombardment - Herbicide selection
- Backcrossing
- Production of
fertile transgenic
• Enhanced expression
- Chimeric genes
using viral promoters
- Enhanced expression
- Enhanced transcription
efficiency
- Selective Gene
expression
Intellectual Property Issues –Protected technologies in Bt maize
• Farmer’s Rights • Fair and Equitable Benefit Sharing• Multilateral System
• National Laws and Monitoring• Bilateral Mechanism• Access and Benefit Sharing
Nation’s Sovereign Rights
Common Heritage of Mankind
FAO/IUPGR/ITGRFA
1983/1993/2001
CBD -1993
Genetic resources ownership
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17
2%
40%
26%
7%
14%
11%
Barriers to partnerships
NCIAR, 2004
Lack of mutual
trust and
appreciation
Lack of infrastructure facilities
Lack offinancial gains
Different norms of evaluation /reward
Lack offrame work
Others
Why are some people opposing GM?Why are some people opposing GM?
• Health and Environmental
safety concerns
• Economic concerns
• Ethical and religious concerns
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Concerns
� Is eating GM food from a health hazard?
� Can antibiotic resistance genes used as markers in transgenic crops be transferred to pathogenic bacteria?
� Does pollen from transgenic crops contaminate non-transgenic crop varieties?
� Will herbicide-resistant GMO crops create “superweeds”?
� Do transgenic crops reduce biodiversity?
� Will insect pests become resistant to Bt toxins?
� Will the widespread adoption of GMs lead to increased corporate control of the world’s food supply?
� Ethics – Is it good to interfere too much with nature
� Religion – Animal genes into plants
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“Genetically Modified Animals are Always Bigger than Ordinary Ones”
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56
59
56
40
35
37
28
49
34
42
25
17
22
32
30
23
33
30
27
36
14
28
19
33
39
24
12
10
21
27
35
36
36
37
38
39
42
44
Canada
United States
Japan
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Italy
Germany
Spain
Sweden
France
Finland
Austria
Ireland
False (correct) Don't Know True
Percent Response
EuroBarometer, Macer, Einsiedel, Hoban & MIller surveys
Status of agricultural biotechnology and biosafety in Thailand
� Genetic engineering research activities in at least 5 groups of commercial plants; tomato, papaya, chili, cotton and orchid.
� In 1995, the National Biosafety Committee was established to support, control, regulate, provide consultation and review on biotechnology researches.
� Cabinet Order on 31 August 2002 “To halt the progress on field trial and commercial scale of GM crops in Thailand, till a biosafety legislation put in place to assure a safe use of modern biotechnology”.
� Thailand remains without a biosafety legislation that directly addresses biosafety.
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Status of agricultural biotechnology and biosafety in Thailand
� Department of Agriculture has issued a declaration banning importation of 40 genetically modified commercial plant species, except soybean and maize when used for animal feed/food and industry.
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1,800,000
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
Import of soybean in Thailand
qu
an
tity
(to
ns
)
LMOs Soybeans
Natural Soybeans
Priorities for action
Creating enabling environment:
� Extend and enhance policy and funding support to biotechnology R&D
� Adopt need-based biotechnology tools and techniques, and integrated strategies and package of practices to improve small farm-level productivity and profitability
� Adopt IP and benefit sharing policies appropriate to the need to protect farmers’ and consumers’ interests
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Building Capacity:
� Strengthen, with support from FAO and other donor agencies, some existing national institutions to serve as Regional Hubs for sustained capacity building, especially in education
� Collaborate in regional and interregional capacity building through support of NARS, CG centres, ICGEB and regional fora like APAARI
Priorities for action
Improving regulatory management:
� Adopt biosafety regulatory systems based on robust science and transparent approval processes
� Facilitate transboundary movement of biotechnology products through bilateral and regional arrangements including agreed biosafety information requirements and data acceptance
Priorities for action
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Enhancing awareness through education and communication:
� Develop educational tools, status reports and web-based information systems
� Include biotechnology and agriculture oriented courses in school syllabi
� Train scientists not just in the field of biotechnology but also on issues of agriculture and food security, environment safety and in communication skills
� Organize dialogues between scientists, CSOs, farmers organisations and consumer groups
Priorities for action
Strengthening linkages:
� Regional linkages within the Asia-Pacific region; south – south linkages; north – south linkages; public –private linkages; public – public linkages
� Draw on existing regional fora like APAARI, AARINENA, FARA and networks to develop linkages
� Conduct workshops to define available resources and needs, followed by mutually agreed work-plans
THANK YOU
Priorities for action