Agricultural Biotechnology for Developing Countries

Since the early 1970s, when the exploitation of biotechnology started to soar in the industrialised countries, developing countries—representing about 80% of the world's population—have progressively adopted and adapted biotechnology as a contribution to solving their social and economic development problems. At the beginning of the 21st century, most developing countries use biotechnology in one form or another, at scales and complexities that depend on their economic, scientific and technological status. In particular, they often rely on agricultural biotechnology, such as in vitro micropropagation of plant tissues or organs, followed by clonal multiplication of herbaceous or tree crops to produce virus and pathogen-free plants. They also use a wide range of food fermentations.

Many developing countries, for example India, China, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt and South Africa, utilise the so-called modern biotechnology, based on genetic engineering and genomics. Agricultural biotechnology is the most widespread biotechnology in developing countries, but only a few of them are able to carry out all of the research and development activities leading to the commercialisation of genetically modified seeds. These include basic research in molecular and cell biology and genetics; greenhouse and field trials according to internationally agreed biosafety standards; risk assessment and management; respect for intellectual property rights relating to the transferred genes and to the creation of new crop varieties; production of genetically modified (GM) seeds by private corporations or working in cooperation with the public agricultural research sector; extension activities aiming at delivering the new seeds to the farmers and biovigilance in the fields of GM crops so as to detect any abnormalities or any hazards caused to the environment and to conventional crops. It is therefore important to follow the strategy of the countries capable of going through all these steps in order to understand how agricultural biotechnology supply meets economic and social demand (Sasson, 2000). A number of these countries are considered in more detail in later chapters in this section. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, it was not possible to include all of the key countries, so that the geographical coverage of this section is not complete. In particular China, where agricultural biotechnology has a rapidly growing role, is not covered in a separate chapter. The editors believe that the current coverage presents the reader with a detailed discussion of the major issues and opportunities of agricultural biotechnology in developing countries but they plan to extend the coverage in future editions of the Handbook.

It should be emphasised that the developing countries whose economies still largely depend on their food supply, exports and employment on agriculture that is not (or very little) subsidised by the government, must face the following challenges:

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increase in production and productivity, and in competitiveness at national, regional and international levels (within the framework of the rules being established or revised by the World Trade Organization);
* protection of the environment and biological diversity, while reducing agricultural inputs (water, fertilizers and biocides), improving soil fertility and conservation (e.g. biological nitrogen fixation), increasing nitrogen and phosphorus absorption by crops, without significantly decreasing yields;
* diversification of agro-food production so as to meet the evolving needs of consumers and the food industry.

These challenges are similar to those faced by industrialised countries whose intensive agriculture employs, nevertheless, a very small proportion of the active population and is generally heavily subsidised (which leads to unfair competition with food-exporting developing countries).

Although food self-sufficiency is not an intangible rule anymore, and countries can devote land to high value-added export products and buy cereals or legumes on international markets at rather low prices, it is important to keep in mind the strategic role of efficient agriculture.

Population Growth and the Food-Production Challenge

Norman Borlaug (2002, 2004) has analysed the ways in which the birth of agriculture some 10 000–12 000 years ago, led to a stable food supply and enabled humankind to increase its population from some 15 million at that time to about 250 million by the start of the Christian era. Borlaug (2004) noted that that population doubled by 1650, then doubled again (to one billion) by 1850, redoubled by 1930 and doubled again by 1975, when the global population reached four billion. The next doubling is projected by 2020 and this will represent a 530-fold increase since the origin of crop improvement by selection of seeds from the best plants for sowing to deliver the next generation. Although the rate of increase of the world's population is now decreasing, the current rate in much of the developing world is still so high that the world's population is likely to increase to at least 10 billion people over the next 50 years, with 90–95% of them living in low-income developing countries and under conditions of poverty. Although it is hoped that the world's population will stabilise at 11–12 billion by the end of the 21st century, we have to confront a situation today where more than two billion people have no food security and 840 million of them are chronically malnourished. Six million children under the age of five die each year as a result of hunger and malnutrition. Of these millions, relatively few are the victims of famines. Most die unnoticed, killed by the effects of chronic hunger and malnutrition that leaves them weak, underweight and vulnerable. Health and mortality indicators are closely correlated with the prevalence of hunger. Common childhood diseases are far more likely to be fatal in children who are even mildly undernourished, and the risk increases sharply with the severity of malnutrition. Eliminating hunger and malnutrition could save millions of lives each year (FAO, 2002).

There are two major challenges that mankind must confront. The first is to produce enough food to satisfy the needs of the huge population. The second, even more complex problem is to ensure that the food is equitably distributed. The chief impediment to equitable food distribution is poverty (lack of purchasing power). Some 42% (2.6 billion people) of the world's population live on the land and rely on their own efforts to feed themselves. Only increases in agricultural productivity in food-deficient areas can enable the millions of rural poor to become food-secure.

The possibility of expansion of arable land area is limited for most regions of the world and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has estimated that more than 85% of the essential increase in cereal production (which represents two-thirds of human calorific intake) must come from increasing yields on land that is already in production. These productivity increases must come from varieties with higher genetic yield potential and greater tolerance of drought, insects and diseases. Crop management must emphasise soil and water conservation, reduced tillage, fertilization, weed and pest control and post-harvest handling.

Irrigated crops, which account for 70% of global water withdrawals, cover some 17% of cultivated land and yet provide nearly 40% of the world's food production. The rapid increase in land irrigation and in urban and industrial water usage has resulted in growing water shortages. It seems likely that two-thirds of the world's population will be suffering from water stress by 2025 (Borlaug, 2004).

The efficiency of water use in agriculture can be improved by several technologies. Wastewater treatment enables use for irrigation, especially for peri-urban agriculture. New improved varieties which require less water can achieve significant savings, especially if they are used in systems with more efficient crop rotation and more timely planting. Technologies are now available for saving water by increasing water productivity (yield per unit of water used). Reduction of soil salinity is now a matter of the highest priority. Borlaug (2004) has emphasised the need to bring about a ‘blue revolution’ by marrying water-use productivity to land-use productivity.

The conclusion that cereal yields must be increased on lands currently farmed, using less water and biocides means that in addition to conventional agricultural techniques, other techniques relating to protection of the environment and preservation of natural resources, drastic reduction of postharvest losses and control of biotic and abiotic stresses should be utilised (Borlaug, 2002). This is where agricultural biotechnology will help; it is not a panacea, nor a substitute for established agronomic techniques, but it represents another tool for increasing productivity and improving food quality.

During the World Food Summit, organised in 2002 in Rome by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it was again emphasised that developing countries should rely on agricultural biotechnology along with other agricultural technologies, while respecting internationally agreed biosafety standards. One year earlier, in its Report on Human Development, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recommended the widest application of biotechnology (and other advanced technologies) in developing countries.

There is indeed an overall consensus on the utility of in vitro production of plantlets, derived from plant tissue or organ micropropagation, that are free of viruses and other pathogens and can contribute to increasing agricultural production, provided that small and poor farmers can purchase them at a low cost. In vitro production, which also concerns ornamental and forest species, is widespread in developing countries. It has become an important element of agro-food production, as it is applied to potato and several other tuber and root crops, high value-added horticultural varieties, oil palms and date palms, banana and plantain, which are the staple food of several hundred million people worldwide (Sasson, 2000).

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