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1

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

2

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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5

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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6

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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7

Banana micropropagation

Micropropagation for Quality Seed Micropropagation for Quality Seed

Production in SugarcaneProduction in Sugarcane

14

Comparative performance of conventional and micropropagation based seed production in sugarcane

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8

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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9

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

10

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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11

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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12

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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13

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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14

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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16

• 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”

54

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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20

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