SUMMARY CONFERENCE 16
Conference 16 of the FAO Biotechnology Forum was entitled "Learning from the past: Successes and failures with agricultural biotechnologies in
developing countries over the last 20 years". It ran from 8 June to 8 July 2009. The Summary Document of the conference
(24 pages) provides a synthesis of the main arguments and issues discussed during the conference. Its Executive Summary is given below
Executive Summary
This document summarizes the major issues discussed by the participants of a moderated e-mail conference hosted by the FAO Biotechnology Forum from 8 June to 8 July 2009, entitled "Learning from the past: Successes and failures with agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries over the last 20 years". It took place as part of the build up to the FAO international technical conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10), that was held in Guadalajara, Mexico on 1-4 March 2010.
Participants in the conference shared a wealth of experiences regarding the use of agricultural biotechnologies across the different food and agricultural sectors in developing countries. They provided concrete examples where agricultural biotechnologies were benefiting smallholders in developing countries. They also discussed at length why specific biotechnologies, as well as agricultural biotechnologies in general, had not succeeded in developing countries and they offered suggestions to increase their success in the future. The conference also indicated that there is no general answer to whether applications of a given agricultural biotechnology have succeeded or failed in the past, but that every application is different and its success depends primarily on the local context in which it is used.
A total of 834 people subscribed to the conference and 121 e-mail messages were posted, 74 percent of which were from people living in developing countries. Most contributions focused on whether applications of one or more biotechnologies had been a success or a failure in the crop, livestock, forestry or food processing sectors, as well as the factors that determined their success or failure. The remaining messages were cross-sectoral in nature, discussing agricultural biotechnologies in general without specifying a given sector, and focused on reasons for failures, and suggestions for increasing their success in the future.
Of the different sectors, the greatest focus was on crops and here the use of genetic modification, in particular, as well as tissue culture, molecular markers, biofertilizers and induced mutagenesis were discussed. For genetically modified (GM) crops, most of the messages focused on specific case studies, in particular Bt cotton in India and herbicide tolerant soybean in Argentina. For the former, it was considered a major success by some participants, while others indicated that the situation was more complex, with performance depending on the hybrid background, growing conditions and institutional context, among others. For the latter, there seemed to be general agreement that GM soybean had resulted in substantial economic benefits in Argentina as well as some undesirable correlated environmental impacts, which were not caused by the technology per se but by failures to incorporate appropriate planning and policy interventions. There was also considerable discussion about the impact of regulation on the success or failure of GM crops in developing countries. The practical benefits of establishing a regulatory system for GM crops were underlined as it enabled commercial release. Many participants also argued that GM crops were over-regulated, which was negatively impacting their adoption in developing countries, imposing additional costs and delays.
Discussions on tissue culture focused on its use for micropropagation and numerous participants described how it had been applied successfully in different countries such as Sri Lanka, India, the Philippines and Venezuela, for banana, cassava, cocoa and ornamental plants among others. It was also argued that more could be done to make it accessible to farmers, and practical suggestions, including low cost micropropagation and creation of small regional micropropagation laboratories, were proposed. Apart from micropropagation, other successful uses of tissue culture were also discussed, resulting in release of new wheat varieties in the Sudan and the well-known new rice in Africa (NERICA) varieties.
For marker-assisted selection (MAS), a number of MAS-derived crop varieties that have been released in developing countries were discussed, including rice tolerant to submergence, released in the Philippines, and pearl millet hybrids with resistance to downy millet disease, released in India. Success of the latter was attributed to long-term donor support and collaborative partnerships, as well as good linkages between the upstream biotechnology end and the downstream product development, testing and delivery end. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centres were mentioned as often playing an important role in these MAS developments. Many messages addressed the issue of slow progress in the field and a key issue identified was the lack of collaboration/interaction between plant breeders and biotechnologists.
Biofertilizers have been applied successfully in a number of developing countries, including Mexico, the Philippines, Honduras and Peru. Most of the messages emphasized the importance of communicating with the farmers, particularly concerning the relative advantages of biofertilizers. Successful examples of applications of induced mutagenesis were also described, leading to the release of new varieties of banana, groundnut and sesame in Sri Lanka and banana in the Sudan.
Participants indicated that application of biotechnologies in livestock and forestry was less advanced than in crops. Most livestock-specific messages focused on biotechnologies for genetic improvement, in particular artificial insemination (AI) as well as embryo transfer and the use of molecular markers. AI was considered to have had a substantial impact in only few developing countries and numerous explanations were proposed for this, including the lack of extension services, economic incentives and appropriate policies. The lack of proper animal recording systems in developing countries was identified as one of the major constraints to applying biotechnologies for genetic improvement. Successful use of a DNA test for a major gene to increase the fertility of Deccani sheep in India was described.
In forestry, most discussion was about micropropagation, with the remainder dedicated to biofertilizers, biopesticides and molecular markers. Clear messages emanating from the contributions are that there is a big gap between research developments and their use in the field; and that enhancing collaboration and understanding between researchers in the laboratory and forestry professionals in the field will enhance the application of forestry biotechnologies.
Several contributions were dedicated to the production and importance of traditional fermented foods in developing countries. There was general consensus regarding the need to develop defined starter cultures for indigenous fermented foods and to transform fermentation from being an 'art' to a 'technology-driven process', and successful examples from Thailand were provided.
Cross-sectoral discussions covered four main reasons for failures of agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries. The first was the lack of funds, facilities and trained professionals, where their negative impacts were highlighted. The second was brain drain, which weakened national capacities, although some participants argued that it should not only be considered in a negative light. The third was inappropriate research focus, where it was argued that researchers were increasingly focusing on basic rather than applied research. The fourth was the lack of political will, where it was considered that there was government apathy to research in general, as well as biotechnology research in particular, while the positive enabling role that government policies could play was underlined.
Cross-sectoral discussions also included four main suggestions for increasing the success of agricultural biotechnologies in the future. The first was that research should be focused on the real problems of the farmers, where discussions included practical recommendations to make this possible. The second was that extension systems should be strengthened, as they can ensure that relevant R&D results actually reach the farmer. The third was that regional and sub-regional cooperation should be increased, and establishment of sub-regional centres of excellence was proposed. The fourth was that public-private partnerships (PPPs) be formed, and participants described some recent examples and discussed the potential advantages and disadvantages of PPPs.
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the entire Summary Document of this conference.
