|
Advisory /
BIOTECHNOLOGY Home Biotechnology
Agricultural biotechnology leads to
prosperity
Ijaz Ahmad Rao
Biotechnology is a cutting edge technology that has the
potential to lead to economic prosperity especially in the
rural areas for a country like Pakistan - predominantly an
agriculture economy. It has the capacity to revolutionize
agriculture, health, industry and environment sectors to meet
the challenges of food security and WTO.
 Agriculture
biotechnology is helping today to provide people with more and
better food and holds even greater promise for the future-
whether cotton farmers in China, India and South Africa,
canola farmers in Canada, soybean farmers in Argentina or corn
farmers in Spain and the United States, millions of farmers
around the world are using biotech products to boost yields,
improve their livelihoods and preserve the environment.
Pakistan being an agricultural economy, swollen population,
poor farmers with small land holdings, dwindling arable land,
decreasing yields and unceasing pest attacks present a
compelling case for adopting agricultural biotechnology.
Therefore, First National Conference on Agricultural
Biotechnology organized by National Commission on
Biotechnology and Ministry of Science & Technology in
collaboration with PARC, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
(PAEC), Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) and the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) was held at Nathiagali from 16 to
18 August.
The focus of deliberations was to take stock of development in
salt tolerant, drought and virus resistance varieties of
cotton, rice, tomato, banana and potato etc., while some
participants had also conducted their research on industrial
chemicals and health and productivity issues in livestock.
More than 63 participants came from 28 institutions of the
country including PAEC's NIBGE / NIAB / NIA, CEMB, Agriculture
University Faisalabad, NARC, University of Peshawar,
University of Punjab, University of Karachi.
While outlining the objectives of this three-day biotechnology
conference, Dr. Kauser Abdulla Malik (Member Biosciences PAEC,
and Secretary of the National Commission on Biotechnology)
informed the participants that in recent years 60 projects
worth Rs.950 million have been approved in the field of
Agriculture Biotechnology. And, this conference provides
opportunity to the researchers to present their achievements
and also to chalk out the course of action for the future. The
Chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), Dr
Badaruddin Soomro stated while chairing the first session that
the world-wide biotech crop acreage rises 15 percent to hit
167.2 million acres in 18 countries. According to him,
biotechnology has the potential to provide solutions to the
countries currently fighting to overcome the food shortages.
Dr. Anwar Nasim (Chairman, National Commission on
Biotechnology) highlighted the major stumbling block that is
halting the agricultural biotechnology to flourish in the
country is the absence of biosafety guidelines. This is a
mechanism that provides framework right through the R&D work
in the labs, field trials up to the commercialization of the
biotech crops. According to him, the entire technical ground
work for the preparation of biosafety guidelines had been
completed by a task committee appointed by the Ministry of
Environment and endorsed by all the stake holders since 1999,
however, the ministry has thus far failed to take any decision
in this regard.
Dr. Anwar Nasim urged the decision makers to take an early
action and lamented the lack of professionalism prevailing in
the Ministry of Environment. In his opinion the problem still
lingers due to the absence of technical experts in the cadres
of the concerned ministry.
Dr. Ahmad Mukhtar Khalid (Director NIBGE) informed the
participants that researchers have indigenously evolved
genetically modified varieties of various cash and food crops
which are ready to be launched but absence of Biosafety
Guidelines is a hindrance towards the delivery of these high
yield, pest resistance crops to the farmers. This is causing
enormous losses to the national economy.
Farmers eager to sow high yielding crops are being lured to
smuggled foreign non-approved varieties; which are not
suitable and are therefore, resulting in various crop
diseases. The deformities caused by such illicit seed
varieties is a lingering menace and takes very long to cure.
Dr. Syed Javaid Khurshid - Director Biosciences said that
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has an elaborate
infrastructure, both for research and training in the field of
biotechnology and, because of this advantage, is prepared to
play a vanguard role along with other research institutions of
the country for increasing the farm output and reducing the
cost of inputs.
Most of the prominent scientists at the conference explained
that we have adequate human resource capital, labs and funding
from the government to implement our vision in Biotechnology
and a good beginning has been made to reap dividends from the
biotechnology revolution under way in the world but our
efforts will be crowned only when the legal facilitation in
the form of biosafety guidelines is provided.
The importance of agricultural biotechnology lies with the
fact that even with large area under cultivation of various
crops like wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane etc though out the
country, but our production of most of crops per acre is very
low as compared to world average per Acre. The main yield
limiting factors are
1) Poor input
management,
2) Yield and quality losses from pests,
3) Inadequate
water supply,
4) Inefficient use of scarce irrigation water,
5) Inadequate drainage, leading to the buildup of salinity and
alkalinity,
6) Environmental stresses,
7) High costs of production,
8) Low Efficiency of Nitrogen Fertilizers and
9) Absence of Biotech
seeds.
Asia is the home of rice crops varieties and rice has been
cultivated in this continent for several thousand years. Rice
is the staple food of the majority of Asian population. Every
day, 250,000 people join us on our already crowded globe. Most
of these people are born into poverty and live their entire
lives in poverty. According to the World Bank, 840 million
people are going hungry each day and two billion are
malnourished - What most of us do not realize is that 70
percent of these poor, hungry people live in South Asia.
Bacterial blight (BB) of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv.
oryzae (Xoo) is a major rice disease and is widely distributed
in most rice growing countries. The use of resistant cultivars
has been the most effective and economical way of controlling
this disease. Pyramiding of resistance genes, in which
multiple resistance genes are combined in a cultivar has been
suggested to provide durable resistance to both virulent and
avirulent races of a pathogen and may be useful strategy for
generating varieties with broader resistance spectra and
longer-lasting resistance.
In Pakistan a bacterial disease "Blight" can be reduced in
basmati and other rice varieties with the help of
biotechnology. This disease causes economical losses to the
tune of Rs. 1.5 billions annually. Needless to say that
Pakistan is a major rice exporter and annually exports about 2
million MT or about 10 percent of world trade.
A second potential benefit of Bt rice is that it may lead to a
decrease in insecticide use by farmers, who often attempt to
control stem borers with insecticides. If farmers are provided
with demonstrations of the resistance of Bt rice to stem
borers, perhaps by participating in on-farm research to learn
for themselves, many may decide to eliminate sprays directed
against these pests.
In Pakistan average yield of conventional rice per acre is
around 30 - 45 maund. The Bt Rice can increase yields by 20%
to 30% coupled with environmental benefit through
substantially reduced insecticide use. This would mean
enormous benefit to the rice growers and the economy. However,
thanks to the absence of biosafety guidelines the rice farmers
will remain deprived of using a useful technology.
Cotton is one of the world's most popular fibers, accounting
for around 45 per cent of the world's fiber trade. Cotton
remains the second most important crop of our country after
wheat, in terms of area and value addition - it occupies a
pivotal position in the national economy as Pakistan is the
largest exporter of cotton yarn in the world; almost 65 per
cent of Pakistan's annual export income comes from the textile
sector. Pakistan is among the three countries where cotton
consumption has substantially increased during past five years
that has positioned the country well to face the challenge of
quota free textile exports in 2005.
After successful BMR of US$ 4 billion in textile industry
Pakistan is well poised to consume 15 million bales in 2005-06
with exports doubling from US$ 6 billion to US$ 13 billion. In
this backdrop it is absolutely essential for the government
and research institutes to intervene in order to minimize the
possibilities of pests attack on cotton crops through the
adoption of different tools of Biotechnology, which results in
higher yields, reduction in pesticide use, higher income for
the farmers, and most importantly uninterrupted supply of
better quality cotton.
It is worth knowing that staple length, increased fiber
strength and fineness have become the major criteria in cotton
business as well as an industrial requirement due to high
spinning speed machinery and advancements in textile industry;
secondly the whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses (genus
Begomovirus) are serious pathogens of many crops throughout
the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Pakistan, and
more recently India have been severely affected by an epidemic
of cotton leaf curl disease (CLCV).
Agricultural biotechnology provides an important tool to
overcome such problems of severe nature.Our scientists have
affirmed that at the laboratory level, they have developed
genetically improved cotton to combat these issues, however,
these varieties cannot be declared in the absence of
Bio-Safety Guidelines since the quantification and evaluation
of these crop varieties cannot be ascertained unless these
varieties are released and tested in the field.
Banana is extensively grown in the lower part of Sindh where
the soil and climatic conditions are favorable for its
successful cultivation. The total share of Sindh province
alone in its cultivation in the area is more than 85 per cent.
In late 1980's, Banana bunchy tip virus (BBTV) was reported
that damaged more than 50 per cent of the banana crop.
Although previously, the disease problem was not serious in
Pakistan as compared to other parts of the world such as
Australia, Panama, Surinam, Central America or India. However,
due to wide spread of banana bunchy tip virus in the 80s its
production has declined drastically. As banana is vegetatively
propagated, the virus spread in new areas with the planting
material. A very limited number of farmers were provided
tissue culture raised virus free plants as seed for new
plantations.
These orchids were disease free in the beginning but with the
passage of time viral infection appeared in these fields as
well. Black aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa), which is the
vector of this virus already existed there, therefore, with
the help of biotechnology tools improvement of
micropropagation techniques for the production of disease free
banana plants are being used at different institutes to
control this problem.
Millions of dollars are spent every year looking for new or
more potent chemicals to combat insect damage, disease and
nutrient deficiency in crops. Imagine the advantages of having
plants that could protect themselves from insect attack, or
from bacterial and viral infection, or of feed plants that
could supply more of the nutrients needed by the animals who
graze on them. Modern biotechnology is already helping to make
these things possible.
Biotechnology alone could not solve the serious problems
facing farmers in developing countries and it should only be
used when basic management or infrastructural requirements
like biosafety laws, plant breeders' rights, seeds acts, IPRs
are effectively in place.
The conference provided an excellent opportunity to take stock
of the ongoing R&D activities, identify bottlenecks and to
strategize the way forward. It is hoped that by providing
people with this opportunity to share their views and
experiences the conference has contributed in some way in
reduction of polarization and an increased understanding of
divergent viewpoints in this debate.
If one has to single out one take out from the conference it
could be the need for the ministry of environment to
understand its responsibility and putting in place the
biosafety guidelines at the earliest given the significance
and the promise this technology has for Pakistan.
|
Pakissan.com;
|
