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Agricultural Biotechnologies
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The News items relate to applications of biotechnologies in food and agriculture in developing countries and their major focus is on the activities of FAO, other UN agencies/bodies and the 15 CGIAR research centres. The News items cover all food and agricultural sectors (crops, forestry, fisheries/aquaculture, livestock, agro-industry) and a wide range of biotechnologies (e.g. use of molecular markers, artificial insemination, triploidisation, biofertilisers, micropropagation, genomics, genetic modification etc.). New documents are included as News if they are freely available on the web and, for people who can't download them or who wish further information, an e-mail contact is also provided. The News service was launched in January 2002 and all News items posted since then (there were 800 in the first 9 years) are available here. The news and event items on this website are also disseminated through an e-mail newsletter called FAO-BiotechNews that is published in six different versions, one per language i.e. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. To subscribe, send a message to [email protected] indicating which e-mail addresses are to be subscribed and in which language they wish to receive the newsletter.
02/10/2004
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), one of the 15 research centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, has just released a short document outlining its "Guiding principles for developing and deploying genetically engineered maize and wheat varieties". See http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/transg/index.htm (in English and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.
01/10/2004
On 24-28 May 2004, a workshop on "Resilient crops for water limited environments" was held in Cuernavaca, Mexico, supported by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Rockefeller Foundation. Proceedings of the workshop, edited by D. Poland, M. Sawkins, J.-M. Ribaut and D. Hoisington, are now available on the web. Presentations are organised in 6 different sessions: Farmer participatory breeding and economic studies; gene discovery and novel approaches; germplasm characterization and improvement; physiological approaches; QTL identification and, finally, marker-assisted selection. See http://www.cimmyt.org/english/docs/proceedings/resilient/contents.htm or contact [email protected] for more information. Proceedings (edited by J.-M. Ribaut and D. Poland) of a related workshop, entitled "Molecular approaches for the genetic improvement of cereals for stable production in water-limited environments", held at CIMMYT headquarters, Mexico on 21-25 June 1999, are now also available on the web. See http://www.cimmyt.org/english/docs/proceedings/molecApproaches/contents.htm.
05/08/2004
The summary document of the FAO e-mail conference entitled "Molecular marker assisted selection as a potential tool for genetic improvement of crops, forest trees, livestock and fish in developing countries", which ran from 17 November to 14 December 2003, has now been published. The document aims to summarise the main themes discussed during the moderated e-mail conference, based on the 85 messages posted, roughly 60% of which came from people living in developing countries. It is available at http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/C10/summary.htm or can be requested from [email protected].
04/08/2004
The 5th Latin American and Caribbean Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnology (REDBIO 2004), a meeting organised by the REDBIO/FAO network every 3 years, was held on 21-25 June 2004 in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. In addition to the "Declaración de Boca Chica", selected presentations are now available from the plenaries, poster sessions and the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as from 15 symposia and 20 workshops covering a wide range of agricultural biotechnology topics. See REDBIO 2004 or contact FAO for more information.
03/08/2004
At the 27th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, held from 28 June to 3 July 2004 in Geneva, Switzerland, over 20 new and amended food standards were adopted. In addition, the Commission approved a number of new work proposals, including the establishment of a new Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology, which should submit its final report to the Commission in 2009. The Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission is an intergovernmental body set up to establish international standards on foods. See an advance copy of the meeting report at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp or contact [email protected] for further information.
02/08/2004
The FAO e-mail conference entitled "Biotechnology applications in food processing: Can developing countries benefit?" began on 14 June and finished on 15 July 2004. Over 400 people subscribed to this moderated conference, and a total of 68 messages were posted, coming primarily from people living in Africa (40% of messages), Asia (29%) and Europe (21%). Most of the discussions were about traditional fermented foods and fermentation processes in developing countries. The messages are available at http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/c11logs.htm or can be requested as a single e-mail (size 102 KB) from [email protected].
01/08/2004
Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter No. 13 (July 2004) has now been published by the Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, and the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory. The 16-page newsletter, issued twice a year, gives an overview of their past and upcoming events (meetings, training courses etc.), ongoing projects and publications. See http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d2/public/pbg-nl-13.pdf (825 KB) or contact [email protected] for further information.
09/07/2004
In a press release dated 16 June 2004, the FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf outlined his views on biotechnology. This was prepared as a response to a letter signed by NGOs and individuals criticising FAO`s recent State of Food and Agriculture report (SOFA 2003-04). The press release is available at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/46429/index.html (in English and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for more information.
08/07/2004
As part of its ESA Working Papers series, FAO`s Agricultural and Development Economics Division (ESA) has just published "National agricultural biotechnology research capacity in developing countries" by J. Cohen, J. Komen and J. Falck Zepeda. This 18-page document focuses on reviewing the status of agricultural biotechnology research capacity and on public sector genetically modified crop development in selected developing countries. The ESA Working Papers series presents ESA`s ongoing research and papers are circulated to stimulate discussion and comments. See http://www.fao.org/es/esa/pdf/wp/ESAWP04_14.pdf (181 KB) or contact [email protected] to request a copy of the paper.
06/07/2004
As part of its Animal Production and Health series, FAO has just published "A technology review: Newcastle Disease", by D.J. Alexander, J.G. Bell and R.G. Alders, presenting the latest understanding of Newcastle Disease (ND), an important constraint to increasing small-scale poultry production. This 63-page publication comprises 4 chapters (ND virology and epidemiology; diagnosis of ND; Vaccination; ND in village chickens) plus a bibliography. See http://www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/006/y5162e/y5162e00.pdf or contact FAO for more information.
05/07/2004
One of the recent "Livestock and animal feed" articles published in AGRIPPA is entitled "Biotechnology application for the Indian animal feed industry: Prospects for growth" by A. Kembhavi. AGRIPPA is an FAO web-based journal for electronic publishing of peer reviewed and edited documents. See http://www.fao.org/agrippa/agrippa_main_feed.asp?lang=en or contact [email protected] to request a copy of the article.
04/07/2004
The July 2004 newsletter (nr. 40) from the Animal Production and Health Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory is now available. The 16-page newsletter, issued twice a year, gives an overview of past and upcoming projects, publications and events and contains many items directly related to agricultural biotechnology. See http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d3/public/aph-nl-40.pdf (879 KB) or contact IAEA to be put on the mailing list for the newsletter.
03/07/2004
In March 2002, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan requested the InterAcademy Council, an organisation created by 90 of the world`s science academies, to undertake a study and develop a strategic plan by which the best of science and technology could be harnessed to help Africa substantially increase its agricultural productivity, thereby contributing to improved food security. The resulting 266-page report, drafted by a panel comprising 18 experts, entitled "Realizing the promise and potential of African agriculture: Science and technology strategies for improving agricultural productivity and food security in Africa" was presented on 25 June 2004. See http://www.interacademycouncil.net/report.asp?id=6959 or contact [email protected] to request a copy.
01/07/2004
The OECD Environmental Health and Safety Division published in June 2004 a "Guidance document on methods for detection of micro-organisms introduced into the environment: Bacteria". It is number 30 in its Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology series. The document aims to provide information on the state-of-the-art detection methods available for micro-organisms, focusing on bacteria, released into the environment and is "primarily intended for use by risk assessors, but it may also be useful for applicants and other stakeholders in the regulatory process". See http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2004doc.nsf/LinkTo/env-jm-mono(2004)7 or contact [email protected] for more information.
11/06/2004
The latest edition of the State of Food and Agriculture, one of FAO`s main publications, providing an annual report on current developments affecting world agriculture, has just been published. The report comes in 3 parts, with parts II and III dedicated to a "World and regional review: facts and figures" and a statistical annex respectively. The first part, entitled Agricultural biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor?, deals with the potential for agricultural biotechnology to address the needs of the world`s poor and food-insecure. It comprises 9 chapters grouped under three main headings: framing the debate; the evidence so far; and making biotechnology work for the poor. See a FAO press release (in Arabic, English, French and Spanish) at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/41714/index.html, download the document from http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5160e/y5160e00.htm or contact [email protected] for more information.
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