Pakistan
November 8, 2012

Agriculture experts have said that adoption of modern agricultural technology will help improve farm productivity in Pakistan, adding that the country urgently needs innovations such as biotechnology to address new challenges in the sector.

Crop improvement through conventional farming, they added, was a rational strategy, but it was unable to meet the challenges of increasing food demand because of surging population growth.

According to them, Genetically-Modified (GM) food technology should be utilised for strengthening crop improvement system, besides ensuring food security. Biotech crops not only had higher productivity, but was also a land saving technology, viable for biodiversity, they said.

Although genetically-modified crops increase overall production of crops while reducing reliance upon pesticides and herbicides, but Pakistan was facing several challenges, particularly safety testing, regulations and GM food labelling.

In Pakistan where outdated farming practices and water scarcity create food shortages, the biotechnology has potential to meet the challenges of increasing food demand due to ever-growing population.

Presently 90 percent of cotton crop in Pakistan is Biotech.

Though, Monsanto has capability to develop solution for Cotton Leaf Curl Virus (CLCV) which affects about 30-35 percent of cotton crop almost every year.

The National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), which is proactively conducting research on Biotechnology (BT) crops, believes that agricultural biotechnology has reached a stage that their use at commercial level becomes a reality.

Principal scientist at NIBGE Dr Aftab Bashir said that the NIBGE focused on five major crops including cotton wheat, rice, sugarcane and potato.

Website: http://www.pabic.com.pk

Published: November 8, 2012