By Dr. S. M. Alam
Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, Tando Jam
Oct 23 - Oct 29, 2000
Technology is a key factor in socio-economic development of a
country. At the national level a country must be helped to find an optimum mix
of activities to balance its multifaceted requirements in the field of
technology, with measure of coherence to enable the achievement of concrete
results. Technological advancements in the field of biotechnology have become
too important in the global scene which should not be ignored by any developing
country Experience has shown that developing countries needs assistance in
becoming sensitized to the potential and application of such technology and in
developing human resource capability to handle the inflow of such technology.
The appropriateness of this technology is still a concept of particular
relevance to developing country. However, it needs to be promoted together with
the countries who have greater potential of this technology.
There is considerable debate in both the media and academic
circles about the risks and benefits of modern agricultural biotechnology
research. Most of this debate relates to the commercial cultivation of
genetically modified crop varieties in the industrialized world. So far, very
little attention has focused on the role that biotechnology might play in the
developing countries, or how it might benefit poor farmers and consumers in
those countries.
The development of any country generally depends only on role
played by the agriculture, health and industry. Modern biological phenomena have
helped in this development by giving a new technology which no doubt offers
tremendous opportunities and ideas in solving the most exigent problems. It is
the requirement of every country to solve the many human problems and such
practice was going on since time immemorial. At present, the traditional ideas
of biotechnology primarily manipulated micro-organisms and selection is thought
to be the major force behind the production of desired traits. With the
development in technology, it has become possible to manipulate genes for almost
every character, resulting in the production of desired traits and at whatever
scale a person desire. The new biotechnology uses the knowledge about the
interior of a living cell. This knowledge makes things easier for users to
direct and manipulate the products they make. Due to this development, it seems
within reach of human endeavours to generate miracle drugs and fight against
parasites and viral diseases, which heavily affects the developing countries.
There is vast area of application of biotechnology in agriculture and it is
unwrapping the many secret problems of not agriculture but, also of human
health, medical and industry.
This technology by transferring genes into other body is used
to achieve higher yields, more nutrients, better taste in cereals, higher sugar
recovery in sugarcane, longer and stronger and finer fiber in cotton, more
proteins in pulses, more oil in pulses, reduce in the demand of irrigation
water, introduction of disease- free and; pest -resistant varieties, and
varieties which can tolerate heat, cold, flood, drought, and adverse soil
conditions etc. With increasingly refined techniques, more new and alien
characteristics can be transmitted. Quantitatively, new combinations of genetic
material are now possible. Through the improvement in this technique, now genes
can be isolated from bacteria, viruses, fungi or other animals and are made to
express without facing much difficulty in plants. The benefits provided by
biotechnological methods and transgenic traits can significantly improve the
world's ability to feed itself on land already in cultivation, by increasing per
unit productivity, improving nutritional quality and reducing pre and
post-harvest losses. Hence, crop improvement through biotechnology culture
techniques will be an appropriate way to strengthen the agricultural sector as a
meaningful preparation in the context of the 21st century.
Plant biotechnology is emerging as a commercial reality.
There are more than 300 commercialized agricultural and environmental
biotechnology products currently available compared to just 32 biotechnology
drugs. Analysts say that biotechnology will allow the food industry to continue
the century-old trend of low food prices, increasing productivity and less
labour. Researches at DuPont and the University of Delaware have succeeded in
producing transgenic canola and soybean seeds with substantially higher lysine
content than in normal in these foods. The transgenic canola developed through
this technique nearly doubled the proportion of lysine in total seed amino acids
over standard canola. Biotechnological engineered cotton and canola seeds
reached the market in 1995 and 1996 a wave of biotechnology crops, including the
first insect- resistant cotton, corn and potatoes as well as herbicide-tolerant
soybeans, cotton and canola are expected to become widely available to farmers.
Monsanto a USA company predicts plant biotechnology will blossom into a 2
billion US dollars/year world-wide business by the year 2000 and a 6 billion US
dollar/year market by 2005. Monsanto anticipates it will commercialized
half-dozen transgenic crops over the next two years and is looking for profits
through the sales of value-added seeds and increased sales of its herbicide and
says it expects the genetically engineered products to be key to the future of
its agricultural business.
Spurred by concern about serious food shortages predicted for
21st century Asia, scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in
the Philippines have developed the first prototype breeding lines of for what
they hope will be a high yielding rice of the future and they have named it as
"Super Rice". The chief plant breeder at IRRI says that the new plant
will increase harvests by as much as 25 per cent when farmers start growing it
this year. IRRI scientists believe the new rice could boost annual yields by 100
million tons. That would reduce the IRRI projected gap between current
production and future demand by about one third. IRRI scientists believe they
have found at least a partial solution by cross-pollinating the highest yielding
varieties IRRI created during the first Green Revolution over several
generations totalling five years. Compared with IRRI's existing high-yielding
rice varieties, the resulting "Super Rice" appears far less bushy —
each plant consists of only about 10 stems compared with 20 to 25. But all of
the stems contain seed pods bearing 200 to 250 grains of rice, while only about
15 stems on other varieties of modern rice carry pods that bear about 100
grains. Thus, a single super rice plant will produce up to 2,500 grains of rice
compared with a maximum of 1,500 grains from today's varieties. According to
IRRI breeder, the super rice is also a more efficient plant. Thick, dark green
and erect leaves catch more sunlight, boosting per leaf photosynthesis by 15 per
cent. Because the plant makes more grain and less chaff, it produces more food
per unit of fertilizer. And fewer excess stems mean farmers can grow plants
closer together, increasing paddy yield.
Plant Biotechnology programmes have been vigorously going on
in many countries of the world for the purpose of producing genetically
engineered crops and also the uses of technique in medicine and industry etc. We
can quote the names of a few countries such as USA, Canada, UK, France, Russia,
China, India, Australia, European countries, Holland, Malaysia, Philippines,
Brazil. New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan etc.
The agricultural Biotechnology programmes have some fears to
the public because, of the ill-effects after its use. Time to time report
publishes in the newspapers about the poisonous effects of genetically
engineered crops. Recently, a report published in a newspaper saying that The
French Government ordered the destruction of 46 hectares of soya crop after
tests revealed that the seeds had been contaminated with genetically modified
organisms (GMOs). It was the second time this year that the French have moved
against GMO-tainted crops and underlined the government's determination to limit
the spread of such organisms. A statement signed by four ministers said the
contaminated soya seed had been planted in fields in the far south of the
country around the Bouches-du Rhone and Herault. The report further said that
the seed contained between 0.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent of genetically modified
material. It did not reveal which company has supplied the seed. France in May
ordered the destruction of about 600 hectares of rapeseed containing traces of
GMOs after seed company. Advanta seed company announced it had inadvertently
sold imported seeds with traces of genetically modified material to farmers in
Europe. However, officials decided last month that not to destroy thousands of
hectares of maize planted with imported US seed that also contained traces of
GMOs. The French government also announced that farmers affected by such order
will be compensated. Last month the Russian government announced to ban the
entry of genetically modified cereals crop in his country. Last year, in
Pakistan a pulse — Masoor dal was imported from Australia and there was a
great resentment in the public about its taste and flavor which was harmful to
the users and the people made hue and cry and thus, it was not imported again.
The work on agriculture side through biotechnology technique
is rapidly increasing throughout the world and particularly in the
industrialized countries. These countries are pushing the genetically engineered
technique in the developing countries too. The following chart summarizes US
Federal Department of Agriculture actions on commercialization of genetically
engineered agricultural products as of December 1995. The chart shows an update
commercialization of the engineered products coming to the markets throughout
the world.
