New Genetics, Food and Agriculture: Scientific ... - ArgenBio

N E W G E N E T I C S, F O O D A N D A G R I C U LT U R E 39in marginal lands. Pests, weeds and diseases also cause substantialpre- and post- harvest losses and the use of chemicalpesticides for their control is both costly and environmentaldamaging. Improving the nutritional quality of staple foodswould also help address the problems of malnutrition especiallyimportant in women and children.Exam pl es of the traits th at could enhan ce food secur i tyand reduce poverty are:• D rought tol e ran ce , es pecially in mai ze, rice and wh e atthat lack the inherent drought tolerance of sorghum andmillets• Pest and disease resistance, especially for those pests anddiseases that are presently controlled by the use of pesticides• Po s t - h arv est quality to extend the shelf life and re du ce po s t -h arvest losses of pe r i sh a ble co m m od i ti es (e .g . ban an a, cassava, po tato, sweet po tato)• I m p rov ed nutr i tional quality (e .g . i m p roving vitamin an dmineral content of cereals)• A po m i x i s, an enabling trait th at would enable seed tobreed true (e.g. cassava)I nv es tment prioriti es : In order to maximize the be n e fits th atm ay be gained from public and private inves tments in biosc i e n ces in emerging eco n o m i es, it is impo r tant to identi fy an di nvest in the priority spe c i es and the traits th at would be mostva l u a ble to poor pe o ple living in diffe rent env i ro n m e n t s, rath e rth an relying on spillove rs of te c h n ol og i es deve l o ped primar i l yfor other pur po s es elsewh e re. There is also a need for identi fy i n gthose prioriti es th at re q ui re additional public inves tm e n t san d /or publ i c - p r ivate par tn e rships for their deve l o p m e n t .T h e re is also a need to link res e arch efforts with the deve l o p-ment and delive ry of new products th at will make a diffe re n ceto food secur i ty and pove r ty re du c tion in spe c i fic cas es.Enhancing present applications in agriculture: Discoveriesin genetics and related sciences are contributing to improvingthe productivity and sustainability of agriculture today inmany countries. Wider use could be made of such practicalapplications of plant biotechnology in emerging economies;for example by enabling:• More targeted selection objectives and the use of molecularmarkers to enable early generation selection in breedingof improved strains• The molecular characterization of genetic resources• The improved diagnosis and management of paras i tes,pests and pathogens by the use of molecular diagnostics• Use of improved micro - p ro pa g ation te c h n i q u es tod evelop clean pl an ting mate r i a l s, es pecially for ve g e tativelypropagated cropsS m ar ter pl ant breeding: To fully re a l i ze the be n e fits of moderngeneti cs, th e re needs to be viable pl ant bre e d i n g /c ro pi m p rovement programs at the national and inte r n ational levelsth at are able to develop locally adapted var i e ti es with des i r-a ble traits. There also needs to be seed secto rs able to produ ceand deliver quality seed of improved crop var i e ti es to far m e rs .Re gre tfully bo th pl ant breeding and the seed sector are weak inm any co un tr i es wh e re food secur i ty is most at risk. The key targetsfor breeding in selected crops in Afr i ca are sum m ar i zed inTa ble 6.1 (De Vr i es and Toe n n i essen 2001; ISNAR 2002b).Mo re targ e ted public inves tment is re q ui red in mod e r nplant breeding, nationally and internationally, to develop thepublic goods that will not come from private investments inplant biotechnology and plant breeding. Private investmentsare primarily concentrated on developing products for marketsin industrial countries.Seed sec tor: Co un tr i es need to have a sui ta ble enabl i n ge nv i ronment to enco urage the development of the privateseed sector. This includes suitable intellectual property management,such as plant variety protection or other sui generissystems.Cultivation of transgenic crops: Some countries are exploringthe options for the targ e ted introdu c tion of tran s g e n i ccrop varieties. The present applications of transgenic crops inemerging economies are largely locally adapted spillovers ofte c h n ol og i es deve l o ped for broad scale agr i cu l ture elsewhe re, with traits for insect res i s tan ce and herbicide tol e r-an ce being most widely avai l a ble. The most wides p re a dtransgenic product in emerging eco n o m i es is co tton mod i-fied for insect resistance (Bt cotton), which is being cultivatedby some 5 million co tton far m e rs in Ch i n a, and a smallern um ber in So uth Afr i ca. Bt co tton has demonstrated economic,social, human and environmental health benefits thathave been documented in China and South Africa (Prey et al.2002).