Business Potential for Agricultural Biotechnology - Asian Productivity ...

The Business Potential of Agricultural Biotechnology in the Republic of China
Biopesticide and Biofertilizer
In applied microbiology, biopesticide and biofertilizer are the two hot items in agriculture.
Because of environmental safety and ecology considerations, biological control of pests has been
increasingly welcomed by both farmers and consumers. Research on biopesticides began early at
public institutes and universities, and some important results have been obtained. The fungi of
Trichoderma spp. have been used to control many pathogens, including Rhizoctonia solani,
Sclerotium rolfsii, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Pythium aphanidermatum. They also can reduce
the damage caused by Botrytis cinerea, Pseuperonospora cubensis, Sclerotinia sclerotinia, and
Sphaerotheca fusca and thus are valuable for protecting leaves. These well-studied biocontrol
agents have become an ideal subject for commercialization. Other well-studied natural antifungal
agents include Bacillus subtilis and Streptomyces. Further studies have shown how to
make these natural resources easy to use in agricultural practices. The Agricultural Research
Institute (ARI) has undertaken significant efforts in the commercialization and marketing of
these agents Several major companies, such as Yuen-Foongyu Paper Co., Tai-En Co., and Biontech
Inc., have begun to produce and merchandise these products under their own brands.
Although at present the value of this new industry is only about 0.5%–1% of the total traditional
pesticide market, it is growing at the rate of 10%–15% annually. Recently, a brand called Biowork
(Bacillus subtilis) has opened a new market in Japan, and some products of Streptomyces
have created an annual value of TWD10–20 million in the domestic market.
As potted plants become popular in the modern horticultural industry, the use of biofertilizers
has also become more accepted by growers. A culture medium made of vermiculite, peat
moss, and pearlite is quite suitable for the application of biofertilizer, since it demands less
fungus and gives better plant growth. Several fungi and bacteria have been studied for their
potential as biofertilizer, including the genera Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Thiobaqcillus, Penicillium,
and Aspergillus. There have been some good products marketed by different companies
that have been quite well accepted by farmers. Based on long-term experiments, ARI has also
transferred some of its know-how to different companies. Some of these bacteria are now being
marketed under names such as Dr. Root (Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, VAMF) by
Tai-En Co., Mycovam (VAMF) by Taiwan Biological Research Co., Ai-gen-how (in Chinese)
(VAMF) by Lei-ju Co., and Agroguard (Bacillus) by the Taiwan Biological Research Co. At
present, the annual value created by the biofertilizer industry is estimated to be slightly less than
that of biopesticides.
GMOs and Other Items
Other products of agricultural biotechnology with high market potential will likely result
from applied molecular biology, also known as genetic engineering, including genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) for producing specific bioproducts, detection kits derived from recombinant
DNA techniques, transgenic plants, and transgenic animals. It is believed that applied
molecular biology will create much higher value than ever before for industry and agriculture. In
the Republic of China, great effort has been taken to promote developments in this field of
research, and much research is ongoing. Using recombinant DNA techniques to produce highly
sensitive and highly accurate detection kits for disease analysis is one of the important achievements
of the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI). This kind of product was initially developed
several years ago to serve the nursery industry and has now proven very helpful for quality
control of tissue cultured plants. Transgenic papaya resistant to papaya ringspot virus was
established by Chung-Hsin University about 10 years ago and passed environmental risk assessment
in 2000. It must still undergo food safety assessment before being marketed. There are
several transgenic crops, including rice, broccoli, potato, and tomato, now in the process of
undergoing environmental risk assessment at ARI and AVRDC (Asian Vegetable Research and
Development Center) but not yet subject to food safety assessment. Another important GM plant
is transgenic eucalyptus, created by the Forest Research Institute, which is now under field
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