Status of research and application of crop biotechnologies in developing countries: Preliminary assessment

In 2003, FAO launched an on-line searchable database called FAO-BioDeC, providing information on biotechnology products/techniques in use or in the pipeline in developing countries (including countries with economies in transition). A report by Z. Dhlamini and co-authors, entitled "Status of research and application of crop biotechnologies in developing countries: Preliminary assessment", has just been published which provides a first analysis of about 2,000 crop-sector entries from 71 developing countries contained in the database as of 31 August 2004. Entries cover genetically modified (GM) crops and non-GM biotechnologies (such as micropropagation, molecular markers, diagnostics [e.g. ELISA] and microbial techniques).

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