Pakistan
November 15, 2012
Agricultural biotechnology is the need of modern world to improve yield like improvement of field crops, reduce vulnerability of crops and livestock’s to environmental stresses, increases nutritional qualities and quantity of foods, improve taste, texture and appearance of foods and reduce the dependence of fertilizers, pesticides and other agrochemicals.
A seminar titled “Emerging Trends in Biochemistry and Biotechnology”. The seminar was arranged by the Department of Chemical Sciences (Biochemistry) and Biotechnology, Jinnah University for Women. Dr. Kausar Abdullah Malik from FC College University, Lahore, presented the lecture on “Biotechnology and food security.
Concluding lecture was delivered by Prof. Dr. Abid Azhar on “Biotechnology in health and disease-benefits versus risks.
He discussed wide applications of biotechnology in various fields of life like food medicine, agriculture, and diagnostics, forensics and crime detection. Besides, he also discussed drawbacks and ethical issues related with the application of Biotechnology.
At the end the vote of thanks was given by Ms. Farah Tariq, Program Head, Department of Biochemistry, Jinnah University for Women. Dr. Waheed Akhter, School of Biological Sciences, University of Punjab, presented the lecture on “Engineering Proteins for Application” focusing on the Recombinant DNA Technology and its uses to produce proteins and its improvement in term of activity, affinity, selectivity and stability.
Farmers should adopt biotechnology to increase productivity
Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad Khan and Dr. Iqrar Ahmad from Centre of Agricultural Biochemistry and Biotechnology (University of Agriculture Faisalabad), while speaking at a meeting convened by the Farmers Associates Pakistan (FAP), said that developing countries like Pakistan would have to adopt genetically modified/biotech crops in the shortest possible time to ensure food security for rapidly growing population, saying that the future of agriculture growth depends on biotechnology.
"The sale of illegal/substandard seeds especially Bt cotton seeds is another important issue that needs to be addressed by the government on priority basis to tap true potential of agricultural productivity in the country".
Growers also urged the government to approve the genetically modified (GM) corn, which is being planted successfully across the globe for commercial plantation in Pakistan.
The agro scientists were of the view that the sale of illegal/substandard seeds is wreaking havoc on the agriculture of Pakistan and there is fear of huge decline in the production of important crops especially cash crop cotton if the government did not check the sale of fake Bt cotton seeds.
"Though the mighty fake seed mafia has been playing havoc with the agriculture of the country since long but it was not before the introduction Bt cotton in Pakistan through informal channel that this mafia really got the opportunity it was looking for to penetrate into the market and sell everything in the name of Bt cotton," the experts said.
However, this issue can be resolved gradually by developing a professional seed industry in the country, they said, adding that the role of government is critical in this regard.
Experts informed the audience that a study on Bt cotton seeds conducted by UAF revealed that Bt gene expression in most the Bt cotton varieties currently available in the country is very low.
"According to the study, only 4 out of a total of 52 Bt cotton varieties available in the market have the standard gene expression and that's the reason why the country is unable to fully benefit from this high-yielding technology," they added.
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