ConFEREnCE REpoRT
difficulty would it be for GM animals? Overall, McDougal of BASF and Dr Günter Bachlechner It leads to irreversible blindness and other serious
this presentation was an enjoyable and eloquent of Bayer Cropscience both gave excellent health problems. Although the government has
overview of the work undertaken by the IRRI presentations on how their respective companies encouraged food fortification, fortified foods are
and reflected the huge area of biotechnology are responding to the challenges that Asia is nonstaple, and not all manufacturers are willing
research undertaken at the institute. facing. Both emphasised innovation in traditional to cooperate. Rice makes up around 80% of
agrochemicals and in plant biotechnology to calorific intake and is thus an ideal target for
Rice is clearly the most important crop in Asia, produce higher yields and healthier crops. biofortification. Golden Rice has been engineered
as underlined by Dr Srinivasan Ramachandran Interestingly, both companies are currently to biosynthesise beta carotene—a precursor to
of Temasak Lifesciences Laboratory (TLL) in his developing maize (corn) herbicides, thus proving vitamin A—in the edible parts of the plant, thus
presentation on the Role of Biotechnology in that there is life in this market after glyphosate. giving the rice a yellow hue. PhilRice is seeking
Meeting Global Food and Energy Needs. He to take Golden Rice genes and combine them
demonstrated schematically TLL’s approach to The first day of the conference was closed by with tungro- and bacterial-blight-resistance genes
gene modification in developing resistance to Dr Orachos Napasintuwong with a study of to create stable new lines.
biotic and abiotic stresses in rice. In the area the potential economic impact of GM crops in
of biofuels, TLL will develop varieties of sweet Thailand. In particular, ring-spot-resistant papaya Closing the conference, Michael Voerman of
sorghum as an alternative to sugarcane to was modelled as an example. If the GM fruit Syngenta set out the company’s efforts to combat
produce ethanol and varieties of Jatropha curcus took ten years to reach 80% adoption, Thailand pesticide piracy, which is a form of stealing
as a source of biodiesel. Dr Ramachandran could benefit to the tune of between $680 and from not only the rich but also the poor. He
reported that there are over 94 million ha of 880 million. cited examples of insidious charlatans who have
wasteland in India, most of which can be used to gone to great lengths to copy product labels in
grown Jatropha. Day two was opened by Dr Sugio Moeljopawiro, order to pass off solvents as pesticides. Tackling
who set out Indonesia’s agricultural development the problem is very costly, so there may be
Plant biotechnology is not all about transgenics; policy. Aparo Ampil of the Department of justification for the big pesticide manufacturers to
Leon Arceo from the Philippine Sugar Research Agriculture’s Policy Research Service in the cooperate in combating this crime.
Institute Foundation (Philsurin) showed how Philippines showed how the Filipino government
non-GM techniques can be used to improve has embraced the benefits of biotechnology, By the end of the conference, my view of
the production and breeding of sugarcane. which was reflected in the relatively large the Asian crop protection industry and its
Particularly impressive was the research on the number of GM products that have been approved ramifications had greatly increased and I
inoculation of sugar plants with microorganisms for propagation, food, feed and processing, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the delegates at
that offer beneficial effects such as nitrogen contained use. Ms Ampil expanded on the latest Agchem Asia. If you didn’t get the chance to
fixation, siderophore secretion and phosphate research from PhilRice, a government-backed attend this year, you missed out on a treat.
solubilisation. In fact, by using this technology, Philippines rice research institute. Micronutrient Still, there’s always next year, so I hope to see
applications of nitrogenous chemical fertilizer in deficiency is a serious problem in the Philippines. you then.
sugarcane could be cut by up to 30%. Vitamin-A deficiency, which has been dubbed the
hidden hunger, affects around 40% of Filipino
Dr Maxwell Davies is editor of
Representatives of the main crop protection children between six-months and five-years old
Agrow Intelligence
companies were at the conference, and Kevin and up to 20% of pregnant or lactating women.
www.agrow.com • September 2007 65
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