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Capacity building in biosafety of GM
crops
By Ijaz Ahmad Rao
Pakistan is a basically an agriculture country;
this sector is contributing round about 25 percent to GDP,
employing 50% of labor force, and earning a large share of
foreign exchange earnings. Most of the population resides in
rural areas and depends on agriculture for subsistence;
therefore, a sustained increase in agricultural productivity
through modern technology is vital for the prosperity of this
region, particularly with the limited availability of water
resources and extra arable land.
The
Green Revolution ushered in the late 1960s has transformed
some countries from a food-grain importer to a self-sufficient
one. Unfortunately we have missed that bus; now our burgeoning
population having already crossed the 150 millions mark, the
achievements of the Green Revolution are unlikely to be
sufficient. Common farm practices have damaged the cultivated
land through water and wind erosion, compaction, salinization,
and water logging. So we need technology like Crop
Biotechnology to overcome the forthcoming challenges.
Plant 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, America,
Australia 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
seeds to boost yields, improve their livelihoods and preserve
the environment. Biotech crops can significantly alter the
lives of these farmers; limiting the time they must spend in
the field and helping alleviate poverty. That's why
organizations including the United Nations, American Medical
Association, International Society of African Scientists and
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
have voiced their support for plant biotechnology.
Undoubtedly crops biotechnology presents considerable
potential by boosting outputs, reducing production costs,
increasing nutritional value and promoting the efficiency of
agro-processing; in the meantime, as the impacts of
biotechnology on human health and the environment remain
unknown, Bio-safety has become a primary issue.
Considering the importance of capacity building to assess and
manage the risks and benefits associated with genetically
modified organisms (GMOs); in June a four-day national
training workshop on "Capacity Building in Bio-safety of GM
Crops: GMO Detection" jointly organized by National Institute
for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) and the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at
Faisalabad. The main purpose of this program was to assist
public and private institutes in their efforts to harness the
benefits of biotechnology in accordance with relevant global
agreements like WTO and ensures safety in the introduction and
use of genetically modified crops (GMCs) - based on
transparent and scientifically based approaches; while also
help to built confidence of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), resource persons and stakeholders in crop
biotechnology.
In his inaugural speech Dr Nobuyuki Kabaki, the chief
technical adviser in biosafety framework from UN-FAO said that
the world especially this region is facing challenges due to
high population growth rate - which has exacerbated resources
and is further complicating issues of poverty and food
insecurity; so in such circumstances GM crops has significant
potential for increasing food production and food quality;
however, related to the safety of its consumers as well as
about potential negative effects they might have on ecosystems
need to consider as essential for sustainable agriculture and
for maintaining agricultural biological diversity. During this
session Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik, member, Biosciences and
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) stated that Pakistan
has attained necessary skills to grow GM crops but certain
environmental and legal complications are major hurdles in
switching over to these crops. However efforts are being made
to approve the required bio-safety rules and regulations at
the earliest.
One of the main reason for such a workshop is to recognize the
need to establish mechanisms for assessing and managing the
potential environmental risks associated with GM crops under
the Cartagena Protocol on Biological Diversity (CBD); and to
identify country-specific strengths and weaknesses relating to
national capacities on the biosafety of GM crops, as well as
to address the prioritization of the support needed to enhance
biosafety capacities between CBD member countries and
facilitate member countries to conduct trade activities
according to biosafety framework. It is worth noting that
Pakistan is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
signatory to the CBD and the Cartagena Protocol,which requires
parties to cooperate in the development and strengthening of
human resources and institutional capacities in biosafety in
developing countries, particularly least developed countries
such as Pakistan. Under WTO agreements members are bound by
certain obligations that limit their right to restrict
imports; which may contain GMOs or from GM crops.
Despite indigenously production of GM crops like Bt cotton and
Bt rice so on, field evaluation is blocked due to the absence
of legislation related to biosafety in Pakistan. Although a
draft document was prepared in 1999 under the UNEP-GEF, The
National Biosafety Guidelines, Plant Breeders Rights Act 2002;
but unfortunately the development of biosafety regulations has
been slow and largely incoherent. So, coordinated efforts are
needed among various ministries like Environment, Trade &
Commerce, Agriculture Food & Livestock so on, to implement
regulations and capacity building for import/export and local
handing of GM crops. It is worth mentioning here that it has
been reported this year an illegal cultivation of non approved
Bt cotton over the area of 100,000 acres in Sindh and some
parts of Punjab; therefore due to lack of Biosafety
regulations no one can predicts its possible outcomes on our
health, environment and other crops. This could also seriously
undermine the technology and disturb farmers' confidence,
since these seeds are exotic and have not undergone any kind
of regulatory trials. Their crossing with non-GM local
varieties and multiplication could make them ineffective and
disease prone.
Currently, Saudi Arabia and the European Union have asked
Pakistan to start labeling its products especially
agricultural, regardless whether it is GMO-free or not;
otherwise Pakistan may lose agricultural exports amounting in
millions per year to these countries.
On one hand such a training workshops are very helpful for our
policy-makers, legislators traders, NGOs and farmers to
communicate their concerns and learn future issues associated
with GMOs under the WTO, CBD and the Cartagena Protocol, while
on the other hand Pakistan could put on view its growing
worldwide interest in the GMOs trade under WTO rules and
regulations and gain benefits from the experiences of other
countries.
In short, undoubtedly, there is strong desire and support at
the farmers, researchers, traders and stakeholders' level for
early adoption of crop biotechnology. It is also fathomable
that designing a workable and transparent framework for
bio-safety regulations have not been an easy task, the main
challenge being creating an appropriate balance between
potential benefits and risks; so arranging training workshop
like "Capacity building in biosafety of GM crops" would boost
public, consumer and investor confidence in GM related issues.
Courtesy:
The Dawn
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Pakissan.com;
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