marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

Chapter 21 – Marker-assisted selection as a potential tool for genetic improvement: debating the issues 429IntroductionFAO, an intergovernmental organizationwith 189 Member Nations and oneMember Organization, was foundedin 1945 with a mandate to raise levelsof nutrition and standards of living, toimprove agricultural productivity, and tobetter the condition of rural populations.One of FAO’s primary roles is to serve asa knowledge network sharing informationon agriculture. It uses the expertise ofits staff, agronomists, foresters, fisheriesand livestock specialists, nutritionists,social scientists, economists, statisticiansand other professionals, to collect, analyseand disseminate data that aid development.The information is made available using anumber of different strategies, e.g. providingdocuments on the FAO Web site that canbe freely downloaded, publishing hundredsof newsletters, reports and books, andhosting dozens of electronic fora. In thiscontext, FAO has also been playing anactive part in disseminating informationand promoting information exchangeregarding biotechnology. For example, in2000 it established the FAO BiotechnologyForum (www.fao.org/biotech/forum.asp),with the aim of providing quality balancedinformation on agricultural biotechnologyin developing countries and making aneutral platform available for people toexchange views and experiences on thissubject.At the end of 2003, the FAOBiotechnology Forum hosted a four-weeklong e-mail conference entitled “MolecularMarker-Assisted Selection as a PotentialTool for Genetic Improvement of Crops,Forest Trees, Livestock and Fish inDeveloping Countries”. The conferencewas open to everyone and 627 people subscribed.Each of them received a ten-pagedocument providing easily understandablebackground information on the conferencetheme, so that those with little knowledgeof the area could understand what the themewas about. The conference was moderated(by John Ruane) and participants wererequested to introduce themselves briefly intheir first posting to the conference and tolimit their messages to 600 words. Duringthe conference, 85 messages were posted,each numbered in chronological order. Ofthe 627 subscribers, 52 (8 percent) submittedat least one message. Messages werereceived from each of the different worldregions, 28 of the 85 messages (33 percent)were posted from Asia, 26 percent fromEurope, 14 percent from Latin America andthe Caribbean, 9 percent each from Africaand Oceania and 8 percent from NorthAmerica. Messages were posted from peopleliving in 26 different countries, the largestnumbers from India (25 percent), followedby Australia (9 percent), United States ofAmerica (8 percent), United Kingdom(7 percent) and Peru (6 percent), with theremainder from Argentina, Austria, Benin,Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland,France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Kenya,Madagascar, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria,Philippines, Spain, Syrian Arab Republicand Turkey. Fifty messages (59 percent)were contributed from people in developingcountries and 35 (41 percent) indeveloped countries. The majority of messagescame from people working in researchcentres (52 percent), including ConsultativeGroup on International AgriculturalResearch (CGIAR) centres, and in universities(37 percent). The remainder workedas independent consultants or for farmerorganizations, government agencies, NGOsor UN organizations.This chapter summarizes the main issuesthat were discussed during the conference,based on the messages posted by the