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Moderated conference on GMOs in the pipeline, hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum in 2012

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This is Bhagirath Choudhary again. 

As expected, there has not been much contribution except Bt brinjal/GM salmon to the questions set forth for the FAO e-mail conference. Therefore, it becomes necessary for FAO to take a more pragmatic approach and must directly consult its partners in developing countries on the questions posed on biotechnology that undoubtedly remains the key tool for breeding improved crops. 

Debate aside, the most notable trend in developing countries that we have witnessed over the years is the deployment of gene(s) using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology either by transgenic or cisgenic methods for crop improvement. More and more R&D institutions for crop improvement in developing countries are equipped with tools, techniques and expertise to harness the potential of rDNA tools that are more precise and predictable and can significantly reduce breeding cycle by half. For that matter, no crop research institutes under national agricultural research systems (NARS) in India, China, Brazil, South Africa and USA are without the biotech projects that deploy novel gene(s) to develop crops that are immune to insect-pests and diseases, enriched with nutritional components, efficient in weed management, resilient to hardy conditions and rich in heterosis. The new generation biotechnologies are also helping institutions and seed producers not only to maintain purity of seed production but also significantly reduce cost of hybrid/varietal seed productions resulting in the robust supply chain management of high quality hybrid and varietal seeds, and sustainable food production. Developing countries are set to bear the fruits of these ground breaking seed production biotechnologies within a period of 5 years.    

In recent years, a significant amount of investment has been allocated particularly to develop transgenic GM crops in India, China, Brazil and Russia. Similar investments corresponding to their research program are being made in other developing countries including South Africa, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia etc. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), that closely monitors the development and deployment of GM crops in the world, reported the following big dollar investments in recent years to develop GM crops;

1) In 2008, the Chinese government rolled out a US$3.5 billion research and development (R&D) initiative on GM plants to spur commercialization of GM varieties. Over the years, China has commercially released half a dozen crops, listed in the chronology of their approval; cotton (1997), petunia (1997), tomato (1998), sweet pepper (1998), poplar tree (2005) and papaya (2006). The most advanced products that are nearing commercial release include phytase maize, herbicide tolerant (HT) maize, HT soybean, Bt rice and fungal resistant wheat.   

2) In 2012, Russia adopted "the Comprehensive Program for Development of Biotechnology in the Russian Federation through 2020" and committed a major financial investment of US$6.7 billion to develop GM crops over 2012-2020, double than the Chinese US$3.5 billion. In addition, a similar budget being allocated to develop products in food bio-industry, animal and poultry and forest biotechnology. The most promising biotech crops include disease and fungal resistant potato and wheat. 

3) The annual R&D budget of EMBRAPA, the NARS of Brazil, doubled from US$478 million in 2006 to US$1.1 billion in 2010 and 2011, with launching of a comprehensive plan "PAC EMBRAPA" to promote EMBRAPA activities in Brazil and overseas including several programs in Africa. Brazil is the engine of growth of biotech in the world with 30.3 million hectares of GM crops planted in 2011 including HT soybean (1998), Bt/Ht cotton (2005), Bt/HT corn (2007), Bt/HT soybean (2010) and Golden Yellow Mosaic Virus Resistant (GYMVR) Phaseolus beans (2011) - year of commercial release in parenthesis. The commercial release of the GYMVR Phaseolus beans in 2011 is a big step forward by EMBRAPA demonstrating the robustness of public sector R&D to develop and deploy GM crops in developing countries.  

4) India, which occupies the world's largest area under Bt cotton, 10.6 million hectares in 2011, is making significant stride in building biotech led R&D institutions to tackle biotic and abiotic stress in various crops with a combined investment in crop biotech estimated to be about US$1.5 billion over the last five years, or US$300 million per year by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and state agricultural universities (SAUs). Similarly, private sector investments in India are up to US$200 million per year making the current total of public and private sector investments in crop biotech in India at the order of US$500 million per year. Current R&D in crop biotechnology in India is focused on the development of biotech food, feed and fiber crops that can contribute to higher and more stable yields and also enhanced nutrition. Bt cotton, the first commercial biotech crop released in 2002 followed by rigorous field testing of many crops including Bt brinjal, Bt/HT cotton, Bt/HT corn, high yielding mustard, Bt okra, Bt/HT rice, high iron rice, golden rice, Bt chickpea, Bt pigeonpea, Bt cabbage, Bt cauliflower, HT wheat, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) cotton and groundnut.    

Other agriculturally important developing countries either released and/or field testing GM crops include: 
Pakistan - Bt cotton, Bt/HT cotton, virus resistant (VR) cotton, Bt/HT maize, drought tolerant wheat and drought tolerant sugarcane also reported in message 62 (by Yusuf Zafar); 
Bangladesh - Bt brinjal, golden rice, late blight resistant (LBR) potato refer to message 73 (by Md. Shahjahan); 
Philippines -Bt/HT maize, Bt brinjal, golden rice and Bt cotton; 
Indonesia - Bt cotton, drought tolerant sugarcane, Bt/HT maize; 
Vietnam - Bt/HT maize and Bt rice and 
Argentina- GM soybean, maize, cotton, wheat, rice, potato and sugarcane as reported in message 72 (by Patricia Gadaleta). 

A series of GM crops in Africa are at various stages of development as reported in message 49 (by José Falck-Zepeda). ISAAA has also been regularly compiling an up-to-date GM crops approval database that not only includes the approval of GM crops for commercial release/plantings but also those countries that approved importation of GMO grains and field testing of different GMOs in developing countries. The ISAAA GM crops approval database is a user friendly tool to access regulatory approvals as per gene(s), trait(s), crop(s), country(s) and its combinations and is available at: http://www.isaaa.org/gmapprovaldatabase/default.asp 

Bhagirath Choudhary
National Coordinator, ISAAA South Asia Office 
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) 
NASC Complex, DPS Marg New Delhi-110012, 
India
Tel: +91-11-32472302
Fax: +91-11-25841294
Email: b.choudhary (at) cgiar.org
www.isaaa.org/india 

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