marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

450Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishis clear from other chapters in this book,still remains largely in the laboratoriesand experimental stations of research institutesin both industrialized and developingcountries.National S&T and biotechnologypoliciesLike the comprehensive agriculture developmentpolicy, the rationale for having anational policy on S&T and, within thator separately, on biotechnology, is to providea framework for government andkey stakeholders to work together in acoherent and mutually supportive way toensure that developments are captured fornational benefit. The principles involvedand mechanics of how it can be developedand managed are essentially the sameas those described earlier for agriculturaldevelopment policy planning, the main differencebeing in the breadth of governmentinvolvement – being cross-cutting issues,developing and implementing nationalS&T and modern biotechnology policiesare clearly cross-sectoral responsibilitieswith coordination normally assigned to theMinistry of Science and Technology. Theexamples given in Box 1 illustrate optionsfor pursuing the development of a biotechnologypolicy. More information onnational biotechnology policies in individualcountries is available at www.fao.org/biotech/country.asp.While many countries have an overallS&T policy in place, and these and someother developing countries now havebiotechnology policies (the most recentexamples being Bangladesh, Kenya,Malaysia and Nigeria), the vast majoritydo not. Most national agricultural R&Dinstitutions therefore lack the compassprovided by the process of developingan overall national policy to guide thedevelopment and management of anagricultural biotechnology policy andfrom there, to formulate programmesand projects specific to the agriculturalsector. This paralysis in policy-makingonly serves to promote supply-driven, atthe expense of demand-driven, prioritysettingand hence targeting of investmentstowards questionable needs. It also leadsto fragmented and uncoordinated activities,and in some cases to delays in the adoptionof technologies that could help improvethe efficiency of agricultural research andprovide products and services that directly orindirectly improve livelihoods. Indeed, thesurvey conducted by FAO on applicationsof MAS in the crop subsector (Chapter 2)illustrates well both the dearth of skills inpriority-setting and coordination withinmany countries that adopt this approachand the complete lack of such activities inmany others. While this can be explainedto some extent by the relative novelty ofbiotechnology applications, as far as MASis concerned, the paucity of informationon the actual or potential economic andsocial benefits of the products arising fromits application in the different agriculturalsubsectors is surely a major stumblingblock to priority-setting and investment.National agricultural research and biotechnologypoliciesEven in the absence of an overall nationalbiotechnology policy, countries have anumber of options for improving the strategicplanning, monitoring and evaluationof modern biotechnology applications,including MAS, within their agriculturaland wider rural development sectors.The preferred approach is for theMinistry of Agriculture in associationwith other relevant ministries (particularlyHigher Education) to champion the process